BRITAIN would be “taking a step off the edge of a cliff” if it came out of the European single market, Nicola Sturgeon has warned as she insisted she would do everything she could to prevent Scotland taking that same step.

The First Minister emphasised how she would put forward a plan to Theresa May to keep Scotland in the single market, on which around 300,000 Scottish jobs relied, even if the UK opted for a so-called hard Brexit and left itself.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that "there is a lot here for us to influence" and "we will try very hard to put other options on the table". Ms Sturgeon said the ideal scenario was for Scotland to remain in the EU but, failing that, she pointed to the Norway option, which was outside the EU but inside the single market. She said this was not a perfect solution by any means but was better than leaving the single market altogether.

Read more: Nicola Sturgeon warns Theresa May - I'm not bluffing about independence vote

The FM, who referred to academic research which said Scotland could lose 80,000 jobs if Britain pulled out of the single market and to a Treasury document suggesting the move could lose it £66 billion a year, argued that the UK deficit was “very likely to deteriorate” because of the economic impact of Brexit.

She said: “What is absolutely vital for our economy is that we are not taken out of the single market; the impact of that on jobs, trade, investment would be severe...

“Although Theresa May has a mandate, certainly in England and Wales, to take them out of the EU, there’s no mandate to take any part of the UK out of the single market.”

Ms Sturgeon, noting how by the Prime Minister making the Brexit issue all about borders was “making it inevitable” that the UK would leave the single market; a fundamental principle of being a member is accepting the free movement of people.

She then said: “The UK would be taking a step off the edge of a cliff to come out of the single market and I don’t want Scotland to have to do that too.”

Read more: Nicola Sturgeon warns Theresa May - I'm not bluffing about independence vote

The SNP leader, who has announced that a new independence referendum bill will be published for consultation next week, said if the only option to maintain Scotland’s EU interests was to have another vote on the nation’s future, then that should be available to Scottish voters but she made clear she was “not rushing straight to an independence referendum".

She also said it was 'inconceivable' that Theresa May could try to block a second referendum.

She said: "Scotland is in a position just now we didn't ask to be in.

"We have been put into this position by, largely, the Conservative Party and if as a result of that there is a view in the Scottish Parliament that the best way to protect our interests is to offer the choice of independence again, the idea that the same party that put us into that position would then deny us that choice I just find inconceivable."

At Westminster, No 10 was asked if it regarded Ms Sturgeon's remarks on a second independence poll as a threat. The Prime Minister's spokeswoman replied: "It's not the way the PM is approaching these matters; it's not the kind of language I would use to characterise things.

"The Prime Minister is approaching both the relationship between the four constituent parts of the UK and our relationship with the EU as we leave in a constructive and engaged spirit, that's focused on getting the best deal for the UK whether that's the people of Scotland, England, Wales or Northern Ireland. She will be approaching these negotiations as the prime minister of the United Kingdom."

Mrs May, she insisted, was "absolutely committed to engaging with the people of Scotland, understanding their interests, and making sure as we go through the process of negotiating the UK's exit, we do what's in the interests of the UK".

Read more: Nicola Sturgeon warns Theresa May - I'm not bluffing about independence vote

On the issue of Holyrood having a vote on the process, the spokeswoman stressed how the UK Government was "firmly committed" to the principle of the Sewel convention "in the right areas".

Asked about the SNP leader's suggestion Scotland could stay in the single market even if the UK left it, she stressed how the EU referendum was a vote by the whole of the UK.

The spokeswoman said on Ms Sturgeon's point about getting more powers over trade and immigration for Holyrood that at this stage it was not a question of "dismissing them outright" but that this raised some big fundamental questions, which would need to be "looked at carefully" given there was a clear devolution settlement.

The PM and FM are to have their first meeting on Brexit in London a week on Monday.