ANALYSIS

One of the most remarkable skills of the current SNP leadership, as during Alex Salmond’s reign, is to manipulate usually dull parliamentary process in a manner that suits the party’s rhetoric.

Nicola Sturgeon turned in a masterclass performance of this trick to explain, sort of, her plans for a second independence referendum.

Essentially, a parliamentary bill that was outside the competence of the Scottish Parliament has been delayed by a year or so, meaning a rerun of September 2014 is both on the table and shelved.

To mix metaphors, and borrow one from a colleague, Sturgeon “has saved Indyref2 to drafts”.

Where this concession is significant is that it destroys the timetable outlined with such gusto and certainty by the First Minister in a Bute House press conference three months ago.

It is also embarrassing as no government leader wants to U-turn on plans, and while this may not be screeching, it at least amounts to a three-pointer after shedding MPs in the general election.

Yet the prospect remains in sight.

That is both the Holy Grail for true believers – and it would have been a step too far for some of the faithful had Sturgeon scrapped plans altogether – and a boost for the Tories, who can keep alive a constitutional rhetoric that has served them well in electoral terms.

But the chances of a second referendum resulting in backing for independence – if indeed a vote even comes to pass – now rests on people deciding they care enough about a bad Brexit to break up another union.

That is a risky roll of the dice.

Kieran andrews Political editor