Nicola Sturgeon slapped down by No10 after she vows to hold new referendum on Scottish independence

THERESA May today dismissed Nicola Sturgeon’s demand for a new Independence Referendum – telling her to “respect” the last one.

The First Minister reacted to fierce pressure from SNP activists by saying Scotland should have "IndyRef2" by March 2021.

But the PM’s official spokesman immediately said both sides agreed the 2014 vote was “once in a generation”.

And he added: “Our position hasn’t changed. Both sides agreed to respect the result of the 2014 referendum. That is what needs to happen.”

He said: “The result was decisive and needs to be respected.”

Tory Scottish Secretary David Mundell separately urged Ms Sturgeon to concentrate on improving Scotland’s schools rather than more “upheaval”.

The First Minister said a new independence poll was the chance to save Scotland from Brexit.

And she said Scots would be asked to choose between remaining in a UK out of Europe – or opting for Scotland to take its place as a “thriving” independent member of the EU.

The result was decisive and needs to be respected

No10 spokesman

But she was accused of “kicking the can down the road” by failing to formally request a new poll from Theresa May by issuing a so-called Sector 30 order.

She filed one in March 2017 only to tear it up after the SNP lost a third of its seat in the General Election three months later.

Scots backed remaining in the UK by 55.3 per cent to 44.7 per cent five years ago. The then First Minister Alex Salmond said it was a “once in a generation” opportunity to leave the UK and pledged not to bring back another referendum in Scots voted remain.

He said: “If you remember that previous constitutional referendum in Scotland – there was one in 1979 and then the next one was 1997.

“That’s what I mean by a political generation.

“In my opinion, and it is just my opinion, this is a once in a generation opportunity for Scotland.”

Pro-indy website boss blogger Stuart Campbell - an influential figure among many Nats members - said the SNP was “frozen in headlights”.

The Wings Over Scotland blogger said the speech was a “stalling exercise designed to appease the SNP membership and Yes movement by not explicitly putting a second referendum beyond 2021”.

Mr Campbell added: “The FM’s plan, if we might generously put it as strongly as that, appears to be to keep appealing to the UK government’s sense of reason and decency (stop sniggering at the back) in the hope that one more time will work where the last 200 attempts failed.”

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