NICOLA Sturgeon’s warning of a second independence referendum if Scotland doesn’t get a bespoke Brexit deal is “pointless posturing”, according to a former leader of the SNP.

Writing in the Herald, Gordon Wilson said Scotland needed “a reality check” about how weak its negotiating hand with London had become since the 2014 referendum.

“Scotland blinked and two years on, we are at the bottom of the UK political heap,” he said.

“Britexit is a direct consequence of the failure of the Scottish people to take control of their sovereignty. So far the attitude of London to Scotland is one of contempt.”

Agenda: Brexit the direct result of a failure to take control of our sovereignty

Mr Wilson, SNP leader from 1979 to 1990 and a Eurosceptic, said the party should “ca’ canny” on whether to hold a second referendum while the Brexit talks played out.

Theresa May might emerge with a very different deal to the 12-point plan outlined last week, and even if she tried to secure a deal for Scotland, the EU might reject it.

Although it seemed the Prime Minister’s “slap in the face” to Ms Sturgeon's plan had painted her into a corner over a referendum, he questioned the point in holding in the current circumstances.

“If the SNP wants to wind up pressure on the single market, then it could hold a plebiscite on that issue. But even then, to what purpose if the UK Government is opposed and the EU cannot or will not deliver? "Demanding a European settlement for Scotland from a UK Government powerless to deliver one is simply pointless posturing.”