The Conservatives accused the SNP of burying its head "in the sand" after a minister refused to categorically rule out a second independence referendum.

The SNP lost 21 seats in Thursday night's General Election result , many of them to a resurgent Tory party north of the border.

The SNP's Brexit Minister Michael Russell did suggest that another vote was on the backburner amid confusion over the shape of the UK Government and Brexit.

But his comments were also criticised by Labour, who claimed that the SNP was not listening to the outcome of the election, and the Liberal Democrats.

Earlier, a former SNP cabinet minister accused his party of losing votes by "jumping too far ahead of public opinion" on independence.

Former health secretary Alex Neil said that the party had failed to challenge a sense that it had given up on "the day job" of managing public services.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Mr Neil, the MSP for Airdrie and Shotts, said that the party needed "to take the people with us on the journey towards independence.

"Our demand for (for a second independence referendum) was way ahead of its time and should only have been pursued once it was clear a majority of Scots actually want independence.

"If they don't want independence, they are unlikely to want a referendum on independence. Jumping too far ahead of public opinion on this issue cost us a lot of votes on Thursday."

He called for health, education and housing reform, and for Nicola Sturgeon to demand a seat in Brexit talks, as he said that opposition parties had been successful in persuading "a lot of people that we aren't doing 'the day job' and that key public services such as health and education are being 'neglected' by ministers."

Pro-Union parties have called on the SNP to take another independence referendum off the table.

But Mr Russell reiterated First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's stance that the SNP would reflect on plans for a second vote.

He added that "to some extent everything is off the table" until stability was restored within the UK Government and the Brexit question addressed.

But Labour MSP James Kelly said: "It's absolutely clear that the SNP have not listened to the result of the election on Thursday.

"I think they need to make it absolutely clear that indyref2 is off the table but more importantly what they need to be doing is taking responsibility for the issues that matter in Scotland, for example child poverty."

Newly elected Liberal Democrat MP for Edinburgh West Christine Jardine said the SNP had to "make it absolutely clear that it's off the table".

She called on the party to bring forward legislation to say that there will not be another independence referendum soon.

Jackson Carlaw, the Scottish Conservative deputy leader, said: "The SNP cannot continue to bury its head in the sand about a second independence referendum.

"The result of the election has sent a clear message that voters do not want a return to the division of 2014 - even senior Nationalist figures such as Alex Neil and Kenny MacAskill have acknowledged that.

"The position taken by Brexit Minister Mike Russell today is unsustainable.

"The SNP must provide clarity to the people of Scotland and take the threat off the table immediately."

Earlier, Mr Russell told the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland programme: "The proposal for a referendum was based on one set of circumstances only in the election which we won in 2016 and that was if Scotland was to be dragged out of Europe against its will that would be the circumstance, that's exactly the circumstance we have found ourselves in.

"Now we go forward looking at this and saying what is going to happen with Brexit? So to some extent everything is off the table in the sense that Brexit has to be sorted now and it has to be sorted or start to be sorted this week. So that's the urgent priority."

He also called on Mrs May's Brexit plans to be scrapped.

The Scottish Government has called for Scotland to stay in the single market after the UK exits the EU.