MOST Scots want a uniform Brexit deal across the UK, not the “differentiated” arrangement demanded for Scotland by Nicola Sturgeon, according to new research.

In a blow to one of the First Minister’s key arguments for a second referendum, a NatCen survey reported “little appetite” among Scottish voters for a bespoke Brexit deal.

Although Scots were more willing to swap freedom of movement in return for free trade, they were largely in accord with people elsewhere in the UK about life outside the EU, it found.

Almost two-thirds (62 per cent) of Scots voters thought Brexit rules on trade and immigration should be the same in Scotland as the rest of the UK.

The report’s author, Professor John Curtice, said that on immigration in particular, Scots were more in tune with the hard-line of the UK government than the SNP’s more open approach.

He said: “Even amongst those who voted Yes to independence in September 2014 there is a limited appetite for having a more liberal regime on EU migration in Scotland.”

In December, Ms Sturgeon published a blueprint for a bespoke deal allowing Scotland to stay in the EU single market to avoid a hard Brexit, which is backed by Theresa May.

The proposal would have required devolution of immigration and employment law to Holyrood, as well as political sacrifice by the UK government and the other 27 EU nations.

Ms Sturgeon’s plan also envisaged maintaining freedom of movement with the EU.

After months of talks between Edinburgh and London about the plan, the UK Brexit Secretary David Davis formally rejected it yesterday, after Mrs May signed her Article 50 letter.

A Whitehall source said there was no evidence that a separate deal for Scotland of the kind proposed by Ms Sturgeon was “deliverable, workable or required”.

The source said: One of the underlying principles is that we don't want to do anything that would damage the smooth workings of the UK's domestic market. Trade deals with the rest of the world mean you need an integrated UK market, with the same regulatory frameworks.”

Ms Sturgeon criticised the eleventh-hour timing, saying: “Scotland voted decisively to remain part of Europe, but the UK Government only formally responded with a dismissal of our compromise proposals to keep Scotland in the Single Market at the same time as the Article 50 letter was sent.”

Based on interviews with 859 people in Scotland and 2322 in the rest of the UK, the NatCen survey found 93 per cent of Scots in favour of maintaining free trade with the EU after Brexit, compared to 88 per cent across Britain as a whole.

Four-fiths (82 per cent) of Leave voters wanted EU migrants treated the same as non-EU migrants - meaning no special deal for EU citizens - against 53 per cent of Remain voters.

Among Scots voters, 64 per cent wanted EU and non-EU migrants treated in the the same way, only slightly lower than the 68 per cent of Britons generally who wanted this.

However Scots were markedly more willing to cede immigration control for better trade.

Just over 60 per cent said Britain should definitely or probably allow free movement in return for free trade with the EU, compared to 54 per cent across the UK.

Professor Curtice said: “Much of the debate about Brexit in Scotland has assumed that voters north of the border want a much softer Brexit than do voters in the rest of the UK.

“Indeed, the Scottish Government’s demand for a second independence referendum rests on such an assumption.

“However, this first systematic study of attitudes towards Brexit in Scotland shows that for the most part voters on both sides of the border want much the same outcome – free trade, immigration control and retention of much of the consumer and environmental regulation currently afforded by the EU.

‘If this picture is correct it is far from clear that concerns about Brexit are likely to change the minds of many voters about the merits or otherwise of independence – so long, of course, as the UK government succeeds in delivering both free trade and immigration control."

Scottish Tory constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins said the report exposed “the myth that Scots think differently from any other part of the UK when it comes to the Brexit negotiations”.

He said: “Like the UK Government, Scots want the best deal for Scotland and the UK, and to secure the freest possible trade with the single market.

“It shows once again just how out of touch the Scottish Government is.

“Polls have consistently shown that there is no appetite for a second referendum, but these figures prove that there is also no demand for a differentiated deal for Scotland either.”

Labour’s Lewis Macdonald added: “This survey makes clear people want all political leaders to work hard to secure the best Brexit deal for Britain. The SNP should recognise the will of the Scottish people and stop its endless campaign for another divisive referendum.”

The SNP highlighted the finding that 93 per cent of Scots backed tariff free trade with the EU.

MSP Richard Lochhead said: “People in Scotland overwhelmingly voted to Remain in the EU – but in even greater numbers want to retain the benefits of single market membership that Mrs May is determined to abandon. With the UK government completely unwilling to represent Scotland’s interests, it’s essential people are given the choice of a different future.”