Nicola Sturgeon insisted she "wasn't impressed" with either Boris Johnson or Jeremy Corbyn, as the Tory and Labour leaders clashed in the first TV debate of the General Election campaign.
Sturgeon, who was mentioned several times in the debate despite not being invited to take part in it, said she did not believe either man was fit to be PM "on the strength of these performances".
Scotland's relationship with the rest of the UK featured heavily in the television showdown .
While Corbyn said there would be "no support for a Scottish referendum" on independence in the early years of a Labour government, the Prime Minister accused him of plotting a "chaotic coalition" with Sturgeon.
READ MORE: SNP and indyref dominate ITV debate – despite Nicola Sturgeon's exclusion
Johnson claimed: "Of course Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party, be in no doubt about it, in order to secure power and the keys and Number 10 are going to do a deal, probably already have done a deal with Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP to form a Corbyn/Sturgeon coalition."
Corbyn branded that "nonsense", saying: "There will never be a coalition between Labour and anybody else. There are no deals that have been done, and there will be no deals that are done."
He added: "I have said there would be no deal with the SNP, there would no support for a Scottish referendum in the early years of the next Labour government because I want to invest in Scotland and give Scotland the £70 billion it needs in capital investment."
Sturgeon was not involved in the debate, organised by broadcasters ITV, after a legal challenge on Monday failed to win the party a place in the head-to-head contest She said afterwards: "The clear takeaway for Scotland from this debate is that neither of these men should be able to determine Scotland's future.
"Jeremy Corbyn can't decide if he is leave or remain and Boris Johnson is determined to take Scotland out of the EU against our will."
The First Minister insisted: "Only a vote for the SNP in this election can help Scotland escape from Brexit - and secure our right to choose a better future as an independent country."
And she said she "wasn't impressed with either of the leaders", adding: "I don't think either of them are fit to be prime minister, certainly not on the strength of those performances tonight."
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