NICOLA Sturgeon is “wholly unprepared” for an early independence referendum despite talking up the prospect, a former SNP cabinet secretary has said.

Kenneth MacAskill criticised the “lack of strategy” from the First Minister and said she was “failing to address the big issues” needed to win.

He said: “'Just about managing' at Holyrood is insufficient. A radical alternative which appeals needs to be promoted for Yes to succeed.”

He also said the SNP should be worried that support for independence is not greater given the problems at Westminster over Brexit and Boris Johnson as Prime Minister.

“It’s the nightmare ticket that some nationalists have dreamed of, yet things are finely balanced… the neverendum continues with no likelihood of it happening anytime soon.”

READ MORE: Kenneth MacAskill: SNP is ‘at a crossroads’ over independence

Ms Sturgeon has said she wants to hold Indyref2 in late 2020 or sooner if there is a no-deal brexit, but the Tory government has refused to give Holyrood the power to let it happen.

A poll by the Tory peer Lord Ashcroft this week suggested most decided Scottish voters now back independence, by a margin of 52 per cent to 48.

The first poll since March 2017 to show a Yes majority, Ms Sturgeon called it “phenomenal”.

However Mr MacAskill, the Justice Secretary for seven years under Alex Salmond, said that “for the SNP, there must be concern at the narrowness of the lead”.

Writing in the Scotsman newspaper, he said: “I'd be more concerned, if I were them, with the closeness of the poll rather than its coverage.

“Given the pound crashing, investment drying up and catastrophe threatening, it must be a worry about just what it might take to shift some people.”

He said the lack of movement in poll numbers suggested the backdrop for a referendum was not as propitious as many Nationalists might think.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon plans for indyref2 next year

He said: “It confirms what many, including myself, have long believed, which is that the worse it gets for Britain, then the worse it gets for the independence cause.

“Support for the latter comes through hope and optimism, it's not driven by fear and despair.

“Nicola Sturgeon's lack of a strategy, never mind a campaign, will see her face increased demands for an early referendum from within. It's something which she can't deliver and she's wholly unprepared for anyway, despite her rhetoric.

“Ironically, her get-out-of-jail card will be Boris Johnson. His refusal to countenance a second poll buys her time but also risks further damaging the Tory ticket in Scotland.”

However he said Scots would resent Mr Johnson’s refusal to grant a referendum, whereas they might have accepted it from Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson.

He said: “Scots can be fickle that way, one of their own can say it but not a ‘bool in the mooth’ Tory Toff. Post-2014 gains for the Tories are in danger of disappearing like snow off a dyke when the spotlight shines on Johnson.”

Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, said: "The very last thing that Scotland needs is for the First Minister to devote even more time to a strategy for a divisive and unnecessary second independence referendum.

“Our economy and political discourse are already suffering thanks the SNP’s fixation on dividing people, rather than bringing us together.

“The First Minister should be entirely focused on the day job of fixing our schools, hospitals and public services.”

An SNP spokesperson said: "More and more people think it’s time that Scotland took all of our own decisions to build a fairer, more prosperous, outward looking nation. 

"A majority now back independence and want that choice over their future before 2021, which is why Nicola Sturgeon has introduced a referendum bill. 

“It would be a democratic outrage for any Tory government to deny that, and such an anti-democratic position is completely unsustainable.”