NICOLA Sturgeon would use an overwhelming vote for the SNP in the general election to advance her case for another independence referendum, Alex Salmond confirmed last night.

The former First Minister told his weekly LBC radio phone-in that a big win would force Theresa May drop her "now is now the time" refusal to grant a vote on the constitution.

Reassuring a listener there would be a referendum within five years, Mr Salmond said: “The general election is to reinforce the right of the Scottish Parliament to decide when the time is right for another independence referendum.

“And if you get that sort of overwhelming vote for the SNP, then I believe the Prime Minister’s position will crumble.

“I don’t care if she’s a got a majority of 100, 150 at Westminster, political reality comes to the fore, and that’s one of the realities that she’ll have to face.”

His comments followed Ms Sturgeon denying she was purging independence from the SNP’s general election drive, after shelving plans to reveal her “next steps” towards a referendum.

Campaigning in Stirling, where she posed on a motorbike covered in pro-independence stickers, the First Minister said her opponents were being “ridiculous” in making the charge.

Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson had urged Ms Sturgeon to publish her route map to a referendum before June 8 so voters could take a view on it.

Ms Sturgeon last month said she would tell MSPs her plan to overcome Mrs May’s stonewalling after Easter, but this has now been put off until after the general election.

Ms Davidson claimed the SNP leader was “desperate” to downplay independence because she knew it was a vote loser, and said Ms Sturgeon was becoming “a laughing stock”.

A recent poll suggested the SNP could lose 10 seats to the Tories.

Ms Sturgeon said: “My opponents are ridiculous. They go from accusing me of talking about independence too much to accusing me of not talking about it enough.

"The issue at this election campaign is quite clear - how do we make sure we have strong voices arguing Scotland's corner at Westminster and also backing our Scottish Parliament.”

She went on: “If you vote Tory, then you are voting to strengthen the hand of Theresa May, to impose more austerity, more cuts, to impose policies like the rape clause.

"This election, in many ways, is a choice between the kind of country we want Scotland to be. Is it one determined by a increasingly right-wing Tory party or is it one determined and shaped by our democratically-elected Parliament here in Scotland?"

Ms Davidson said: “The First Minister could not have been clearer last month - she told the people of Scotland she would set out her next steps on her unwanted referendum plan after Easter.

"Yet now that a General Election has been called she has gone back on her word.

"The reason is obvious: as always with the SNP, they desperately try to play down independence in an election campaign because they know it's unpopular.

"Nicola Sturgeon has a duty to set out her position as promised so we can all take a view.”

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said the delay was “a very clear sign” that Ms Sturgeon knew the idea of a new referendum was “absolutely tanking on the doorsteps”.

She said: “Wherever I go in the country I meet people who voted both Yes and No who just want to leave this argument behind them, and are desperate to have a general election on the issues that matter to them - how we pay for our schools, our hospitals, our public services.

"I think she's probably hearing the same things, and that's why she's parking her plans."