NICOLA Sturgeon has rejected suggestions a minimum threshold of votes should be applied in any future independence referendum.
The First Minister admitted the narrowness of the 2016 Brexit result had "been a factor in what's come since" – but insisted the turmoil had not been inevitable.
She made the comments while answering questions at a Law Society of Scotland conference in Edinburgh to mark 20 years of devolution.
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Ms Sturgeon said it was not her view that a minimum threshold should be applied.
She said: "The narrowness of the Brexit result, absolutely, has been a factor in what's come since.
"But I don't think what has happened since the Brexit vote has been in any way inevitable.
"So I don't take the view we should have a particular threshold. I guess as soon as you go down that road, the arguments become what should that threshold be.
"I think a basic tenet of democracy and how we take decisions is by majority vote.
"I very strongly oppose Brexit, but the point I want to make now is I don't think the mess that Brexit has become was inevitable – even with the narrowness of the vote.
"I think if the Brexit referendum had happened differently, if the result had been handled differently, I think a lot of what we are experiencing right now could have been avoided."
Ms Sturgeon wants to hold a second independence referendum in the latter half of next year, although this has been consistently opposed by Tory leadership figures in Westminster.
She said there was "a lot of information" for voters ahead of the 2014 poll, adding: "That is in very stark contrast to 2016, when there was no information about what Brexit meant, there was very little understanding – I think a lot of the debate was only tangentially actually about the EU, as opposed to issues around migration or the hangover from the financial crash and austerity."
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She said the UK Government also sought to interpret the result "in the hardest way possible".
She added: "Almost the handling of it sought to deeper divisions, rather than bring people together."
Ms Sturgeon said the Yes side would have invited key figures in the No campaign into the negotiating team if it had won the independence referendum in 2014.
And she said much of the debate back then had centred on areas of co-operation, adding: "I think the atmosphere of that would have been, I hope, different, and that's certainly how I would intend it to be if we have another choice and vote Yes in the future."
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