Lisa Cameron blasted Rishi Sunak’s welfare policies just days before she left the SNP to join the Scottish Conservatives.

In a leaked video, seen by The Herald, the country’s newest unionist MP also claimed independence was her priority as a politician. 

The comments will embarrass the Prime Minister who praised the “brave” MP when she stunned constituents by defecting to his party on Thursday.

READ MORE: Mike Russell says Tory defector was 'ego driven' and left in 'tantrum'

Meanwhile, in her first interview since the defection, the MP claimed she had to move out of her home after she was threatened with being “bricked in the street”.

Dr Cameron told The Times she had received a “torrent of abuse” in emails.

She said: “Aggression, violence and anger are coupled on to the debate about nationalism.”

Dr Cameron, who has represented East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow since 2015, crossed the floor following talks with Mr Sunak.

However, news of the decision to desert the SNP came just hours before she would have been deselected as the party’s candidate in an internal ballot.

Local party members backed her challenger Grant Costello.

In a hustings between the two, on September 28, Dr Cameron said independence was “a work in progress” and had to be “the priority for people and has to be what we're doing the work on even when we're standing up in the parliament and speaking in debates on behalf of constituents.”

Asked what their number two priority was, Dr Cameron said it was dealing with the cost of living crisis.

“I have hundreds of people contacting me about that every single month,” she said, “They are really struggling because we're still in Westminster austerity situation really, where the people who are the most vulnerable including many, many disabled people across found that they have borne the brunt really of cuts and changes.”

In response to another question, Dr Cameron referred to the Internal Market Act - brought in by the Tories to enforce common trading rules across the four nations of the UK - as “another assault on devolution,” adding that “Brexit was pretty much the same.”

“People in Scotland voted to remain in the EU and we've been dragged out the EU with all of the benefits, particularly for young people and I think about my children, other people's children who will miss out on many programs and opportunities because of that,” she told party members.

READ MORE: FM calls for unity as party reels from Lisa Cameron defection

It was a fractious hustings which was dominated by the deteriorating relationship between the MP and her local party members.

Dr Cameron told them: “We've had some ups and downs along the way in terms of various different elections and levels of support for the party, but I think the main thing that binds us together as a party is independence.”

She added later: “I'm a family person. I want to work for everybody's family. I want to work for Team SNP.”

There were more promises on independence.

Dr Cameron told activists: “I have two daughters, and I want to see an independent Scotland to make a huge difference for them.”

“[The SNP needs to be] absolutely steadfast in our pursuit of independence in the future,” she added.

She told them she wanted to “continue the work I'm doing towards independence” and that her work as an MP was “to convince people about independence to get many people to move from no to yes.”

In her final remarks, she told activists: “And I want you to please vote for me and make sure that we continue to serve this constituency, and make sure that that journey towards independence is a final destination.”

However, in her interview announcing her defection on Thursday, Dr Cameron criticised the SNP’s commitment to independence, saying it had resulted in “significant division” for families like hers.

“This has taken its toll and I have come to the conclusion that it is more helpful to focus my energies upon constructive policies that benefit everyone across the four nations of the UK, and to move towards healing these divisions for the collective good."

The new Tory politician said she had left the SNP because of “toxic and bullying” treatment from colleagues because of her support for the teenage victim of Patrick Grady.

The Glasgow North MP was suspended from the Commons after he made an “unwanted sexual advance” to a teenage party staffer 19 years his junior “while under the influence of alcohol.”

Dr Cameron, a former consultant clinical psychologist, said she was "ostracised” by colleagues for asking about the victim.

“Being in the SNP has been bad for my health,” she said.

READ MORE: SNP MP Lisa Cameron defects to the Conservatives

Mr Sunak welcomed her to the party, describing her as a “brave and committed constituency MP.”

"I look forward to working with her on the disability issues she has championed so passionately in parliament, and on the issues that really matter to her constituents in East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow.”

The SNP has called on her to stand down and trigger a by-election.

A Scottish Conservative spokesperson said: "Lisa believes that independence is the wrong priority and that we should instead be focused on the real priorities of the Scottish people, such as the cost of living crisis and unacceptable NHS waiting times."