ALISTAIR Darling has rubbished the prospect of another Scottish independence referendum within two years, saying Nicola Sturgeon’s heightened rhetoric on the issue was simply her “throwing red meat” to SNP supporters.

The views of the former leader of the Better Together campaign comes as senior Nationalist figures are said to be seeking private assurances from EU member states that an independent Scotland could remain in the single market after Brexit.

The suggested pitch is that Scotland, if it left the UK, would remain in the single market because of membership of the European Economic Area like Norway, and it would then seek full EU membership. The Scottish government is said to feel such a guarantee about the prospect of continued single market membership for Scotland would bolster support for independence in a second poll.

Speaking to Good Morning Scotland, Lord Darling argued that the First Minister was in "no hurry" to rush into another referendum and was instead "throwing red meat" to her supporters, ahead of next month’s annual SNP conference, by suggesting one could be imminent.

Alex Salmond, the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman, has insisted he believes another referendum on independence will probably take place by 2018 as Theresa May’s government did “not have the flexibility, the sensitivity, the democratic acknowledgement of Scotland's rights” to remain in the single market.

He told GMS: "As opposed to starting that campaign at 27 per cent of the vote, which is what we did in 2012, Nicola Sturgeon will be starting or would be starting it at 48 or 49 per cent of the vote where the Yes side is now."

But Lord Darling insisted he did not think a second independence poll would happen “any time soon at all”.

He explained: “Nothing has changed since 2014...in that roughly speaking 45 per cent of the population would vote for independence, 55 per cent would vote against it.

"That's where we are and Nicola Sturgeon is not going to risk everything, her reputation; she has seen what has happened to David Cameron, who the only thing people will remember about him I suspect, when history is written in years to come, is that he accidentally got us out of the EU and he didn't want it.

"If she loses, she knows she would be finished. That's why she is in no hurry to rush into it.”

The former chancellor went on: "What she has got to do, of course, is to continually throw red meat to her supporters and, in many ways, calling for independence is a diversion because people aren't discussing the fact that how is it that people from disadvantaged backgrounds are not getting the same opportunities as they are, say in London, why is it we've got a shortage of GPs in Scotland, when all these things are controlled by the Scottish Government.”

Lord Darling said things would change from day to day, month to month, year to year, but on the fundamental point on the question of Scottish independence, “nothing much had changed in the last two years".

His comments follow a poll suggesting nearly half, 46 per cent, of Scots oppose a referendum taking place in the next few years.

They also come as a clear division appears to be emerging within SNP ranks over when Ms Sturgeon should push the button on another referendum.

Today, The Herald reported how some Nationalist MPs are urging their leader not to rush to a second vote but wait until after the Brexit process and an expected Tory victory in 2020, to ensure a better chance of victory in another referendum.

At the weekend, John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister, also appeared to pour cold water on the prospect of a second independence poll any time soon, saying the outcome of the Brexit talks would “create the conditions” for the Scottish government to decide on whether or not a fresh vote on Scotland’s future should be held.