First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has signed a letter formally asking for powers to hold a second Scottish independence referendum.

The Scottish Parliament voted by 69 to 59 on Tuesday in favour of seeking permission for another referendum and it is in response to this that the first minister has written to the Prime Minister Theresa May to make a formal request to open talks on a Section 30 order to allow it proceed.

This full text of the letter will be made public later on Friday.

A photograph released by the Scottish Government shows the first minister curled up on a sofa at Bute House penning the letter to Theresa May.

The Herald:

This has drawn comparisons with Ms May's own photograph from earlier in the week in which she is seated behind a desk putting the final touches to the missive sent to the EU to trigger Article 50 and Brexit.

The UK government has already said it will block a referendum until after the Brexit process has been completed.

Prime Minister Theresa May, who met Ms Sturgeon for talks in Glasgow on Monday, has repeatedly insisted that "now is not the time" for a referendum.

This week, MSPs voted in favour of seeking permission for an independence referendum to take place between autumn 2018 and spring 2019.

Ms Sturgeon said her mandate for another vote is now "beyond question", and warned it would be "democratically indefensible and utterly unsustainable" to attempt to stand in the way.

Scottish Secretary David Mundell said the UK Government would decline the request.