Nicola Sturgeon has branded opposition claims that she is avoiding talking about independence in the General Election campaign as "ridiculous".
The SNP leader said the June 8 ballot was about electing "strong voices" to fight Scotland's corner at Westminster.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has said Ms Sturgeon risks becoming a "laughing stock" by distancing her campaign from a drive for a second vote on leaving the UK.
The First Minister's spokesman has said it is unlikely Ms Sturgeon would outline her next steps towards another referendum by the spring of 2019 before the general election.
She had planned to update Holyrood on her plans after Easter, after her request for powers to hold a vote was rejected by the UK Government.
Speaking at a campaign event in Stirling for the local elections on May 4, Ms Sturgeon dismissed claims she was avoiding the topic of independence.
"My opponents are ridiculous. They go from accusing me of talking about independence too much to accusing me of not talking about it enough," she said.
"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.
"On independence, the mandate that we sought and won last year in the Scottish election is there, the Scottish Parliament has now voted to back that mandate, so the question in this election is do we allow the Tories to determine who chooses Scotland's future or do we send a clear message that it should be our Parliament and the people of Scotland who determine Scotland's future?"
Ms Sturgeon, who has identified the General Election as a "two-horse race" between the SNP and the Tories, also moved to frame the vote as a choice between Theresa May's party at Westminster and the Scottish Parliament.
"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," she said.
"We need to back our own Parliament as well.
"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?
"That's the choice."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel