Sturgeon: May is not ‘honouring

● Leaders set for showdown talks in London next week ● Indyref2 will hinge on Scotland staying in EU single market

At last week’s SNP conference, the First Minister pledged that the Scottish Government will call a second independence referendum if the UK opts for a “hard Brexit”, but said she wants to work with others to try and “save” the UK from being removed from the single market.

The Scottish Government’s draft independence referendum bill will be published for consultation next week. The SNP has already launched a campaign to reach out to those who voted No in 2014 but who are now wavering.

But Scottish Secretary David Mundell played down claims that the EU result in Scotland was grounds for another vote on leaving the UK.

He said: “We’ve had a vote which we were told was a once in a generation vote as to whether Scotland should remain part of the United Kingdom – there was a decisive result in that vote.

“We were aware there was going to be a vote on whether theunitedkingdomremained in the EU. The reasons for Scotland remaining in the UK were overwhelmingly economic and those are the same issues that there was today in relation to the UK single market.

“I find it very odd that people who are very, very concerned about the EU single market are quite willing to give up the UK single market, which is four times as valuable to Scotland and responsible for a million jobs.”

The UK government would have to authorise a new referendum on Scottish independence if it was to be legally binding because constitutional issues are reserved to Westminster, but Mr Mundell refused to explicitly state whether it would or not.

“There could be another referendum, but we want to argue that there shouldn’t be another referendum.

“I’ve said from the outset that we would listen to any proposals that the Scottish Government brought forward in relation to Scotland’s interests.

“We’ve had four months and no specific proposals have come forward.

“I see it as impossible, for example, that Scotland could remain in the EU while the rest of the EU left.”

Asked whether Scotland could stay in the single market, Mr Mundell said: “I think it’s difficult to see how that would be achieved, but I’ve said before we will listen to any proposals that the Scottish Government brings forward.”

Nicola Sturgeon announced at the SNP party conference last week