NICOLA Sturgeon has ruled out a second independence referendum in 2017 just a week after a Herald poll showed the overwhelming majority of Scots were opposed to the idea.

The First Minister told STV there would not be a vote this calendar year, but said a referendum remained on the table in the longer term in case Scotland faced a hard Brexit.

An exclusive BMG survey for the Herald last week found 61 per cent of people were against going to the polls this year on the constitution, including 27 per cent of SNP supporters.

The Scottish Government has already published a draft referendum bill for consultation.

If Ms Sturgeon had decided to hold a referendum this year, it would have required her to get permission soon from Westminster and rush the bill through Holyrood, as it is currently expected to take until at least spring 2018 to pass its legislative hurdles.

Ms Sturgeon’s opponents have accused her of flip-flopping on a referendum in recent days, and of trying to back away from a vote she fears she would lose.

Immediately after the UK voted 52-48 to leave the EU in June and Scotland voted 62-38 to Remain, Ms Sturgeon said an independence referendum had become “highly likely”.

However in a BBC Radio Scotland interview on Friday she offered to “put aside” a referendum for “the timescale of Brexit” in an attempt effort to make a deal with Downing Street on securing Scotland’s continued membership of the EU single market.

But on Sunday her predecessor Alex Salmond wrote a newspaper column saying Scotland should “prepare for a second independence referendum”.

The same day, Ms Sturgeon told the BBC she was not bluffing about her threat to hold a referendum if the UK government dismissed her proposal for a bespoke Scottish Brexit deal.

She said: "They will be making a big mistake if they think I am in any way bluffing.”

Asked on Monday about the prospect of a second referendum, the First Minister told STV: “Not this year, but I have made [it] very clear there is an absolute essential requirement for Scotland to remain in the single market because it matters to jobs and investment and livelihoods and living standards across the country."

Asked again if she was ruling out a vote this year, she said: “There is not going to be an independence referendum in 2017, I don't think there is anybody who thinks that is the case.”

But she added that a referendum "has to be on the table to make sure Scotland is not driven off a hard Brexit cliff edge".

The Unionist parties at Holyrood again urged Ms Sturgeon to rule out a vote altogether.

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said: “This is an empty gesture from a First Minister who is leaving Scotland in limbo.

“If she's serious about allowing Scotland to move on from constitutional navel-gazing, she should ditch her draft referendum bill immediately.

"People want a Scottish Government that gets back to the day job - sorting out our schools, and using the vast new powers the Scottish Government now has.

"Anything that falls short will simply confirm the fact that this is a First Minister who is still putting the interests of her party before the country.”

Scottish Labour deputy Alex Rowley said: “While it is welcome that Ms Sturgeon has ruled out another independence referendum in 2017, this doesn't come close to ending the uncertainty. “The First Minister should rule out forcing another independence referendum on the people of Scotland altogether, not just for the next twelve months.”

Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie added: “This is a statement of the blindingly obvious. Of course there was not going to be an independence referendum this year.

“It took years to prepare for the last one. What we need from this First Minister is a commitment to rule it out altogether.

“The will-she, won’t-she uncertainty runs the risk of causing considerable and damaging uncertainty to our economy and to the country. We have enough uncertainty with Brexit, we don’t need more with independence.”