The Scottish Government's Brexit minister has said that rushing into IndyRef2 after Brexit could quash the prospect of a Yes vote.

Speaking at the SNP conference, Mike Russell insisted that the party must wait for the "right moment" to call a second independence referendum.

He said that a second vote should only take place when Scotland is "persuaded, ready and determined to win" and that the right time was not "the moment that best relieves our natural impatience".

With the UK due to leave the European in less than six months' time, Mr Russell hit out at Theresa May's "destructive, dysfunctional UK Government".

But he dismissed the portion of the SNP calling for party leaders to push ahead with a date for a second vote in response to Brexit.

Mr Russell said: "Deciding the when can only come after agreeing on the why. Because the why isn't just about grabbing a lifeboat in choppy and dangerous seas.

"The why is about a route to a better Scotland, in a better Europe influencing the creation of a better world ...

"It can only happen when we find the right moment and the right arguments to make it happen.

"Our job as a party and as a government is to both make sure that Scotland flourishes, no matter the circumstances but also to ensure that - at the right moment - the choice of independence can be made.

"The right moment - not the most comfortable moment or the moment that best relieves our natural impatience. The moment at which our country is persuaded, ready and determined to win.

"These are difficult times. They may become more difficult still and that is why the Scottish Government is working so hard to try and ensure that even in the event of a disastrous no deal we will be able to offer some mitigation and some protection."

Sturgeon has already warned the UK Prime Minister her party's MPs will vote against any Brexit deal at Westminster which takes the UK out of the single market and the customs union.

Russell echoed this, stating the SNP "will not be the midwives of Brexit, willing dislocation and disaster upon our country".

He told the conference: "Let me put it this unequivocal way, if there is no offer and no possibility, at the very least, of a single market and customs union outcome, either for the UK as a whole or for Scotland as a differentiated part of these islands, then there is no meaningful option being offered at all, and no option that can or will have SNP support."

He said if Scotland was "forced to leave" the EU "for no matter how short a period, the only sensible, evidence led, option is to stay in the single market and the customs union".