NICOLA Sturgeon has told Boris Johnson he is “the leader of a defeated party in Scotland” and so has no right to stand in the way of a second independence referendum.

Pressing for Indyref2 after the SNP won 80 per cent of Scottish seats in the general election, the First Minister delivered the message direct on live TV.

She announced the Scottish Government would next week publish “the detailed democratic case” for giving Holyrood the power to hold another referendum in 2020.

She is expected to send a separate request for that power, under Section 30 of the 1998 Scotland Act, to the Prime Minister by the end of the year.

Mr Johnson has already said he will refuse it, and Ms Sturgeon has yet to say what she will do if he does.

The SNP won 48 of Scotland’s 59 seats on Thursday, an improvement of 13 on 2017.

READ MORE: General election 2019: How every constituency has voted in Scotland

It also increased its share of the vote from 36.9 to 45%, and gained 264,811 votes, taking its total to 1.24million.

The Scottish Tories, whose campaign was based on opposing Indyref2, lost seven of their 13 MPs, and saw their vote share fall from to 28.6 to 25.1% and their vote total fall 65,010 to 692,939.

Speaking at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh, Ms Sturgeon described the “stunning” result as a watershed that “renews, reinforces and strengthens” the mandate for Indyref2.

The First Minister said: “This is not about asking Boris Johnson or any other Westminster politician for permission. It is an assertion of the democratic right of the people of Scotland to determine their own future."

She added: “It is clear that that the kind of future desired by the majority in Scotland is different to that chosen by the rest of the UK. Scotland has rejected Boris Johnson and the Tories and, yet again, we have said no to Brexit.”

She said it was “clear beyond any doubt” that Scotland did not want Brexit and it was “time for Boris Johnson to start listening”.

She said: “I accept - regretfully - that he has a mandate for Brexit in England. But he has no mandate whatsoever to take Scotland out of the EU.

“If he presses ahead he will drive a coach and horses through the very idea that is supposed to underpin the UK – the idea that this union is a partnership of equal nations.”

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: Boris Johnson does not have a mandate” to take Scotland out of the EU

She acknowledged not all those voted SNP supported independence, but she hoped there was “a point of unity” on it being for Scotland to decide its future, not Westminster.

She said: “It is not a decision for any Westminster Prime Minister - and certainly not for one who suffered a crushing defeat in Scotland last night.

The Tories fought the campaign in Scotland on a single issue.

“They spoke about nothing else. They bombarded people in Scotland with the same relentless message day after day and night after night.

“They said a vote for them was a vote to deny people in Scotland the right to decide our own future. They said it was a vote to reject an independence referendum:

“Well, yesterday, the people of Scotland rejected the Tories instead.”

She concluded: “Given the verdict of the people of Scotland last night, the Scottish Government will next week publish the detailed democratic case for a transfer of power to enable a referendum to be put beyond legal challenge.

“To the Prime Minister let me be clear. This is not simply a demand that I or the SNP are making. It is the right of the people of Scotland – and you as the leader of a defeated party in Scotland have no right to stand in the way.

“The people of Scotland have spoken – it is time to decide our own future.”

She refused to take questions from the media.

Asked if Mr Johnson should grant a Section 30 order, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: "No, we’ve said it was once-in-a-generation and that generation isn’t past yet, and I would still maintain more people will have cast votes in Scotland for Unionist parties than will have cast votes for the SNP.”

Mr Jack last month said an SNP majority win at Holyrood in 2021 would constitute a "democratic mandate".

The Scottish Greens said Ms Sturgeon should request a Section 30 order immediately.

READ MORE: Jackson Carlaw: Scottish Tories had 'remarkable result' despite losing most MPs

Co-leader Lorna Slater said: “A Conservative majority is terrible news for the poor and disenfranchised, for disabled people, for EU citizens and refugees, but we can’t lose hope. 

“We can still resist Boris Johnson’s deregulated race to the bottom, which promises to rip up our rights and environmental protections and sell off our NHS. The Scottish Greens will continue the fight for equality and the planet.

“But the case for independence has never been clearer. Given it was all the Scottish Conservatives talked about in this election, Boris Johnson has no political capital to refuse a section 30 order now. The longer he waits, the louder the clamour will become. 

“Nicola Surgeon should seek one immediately, especially since the Scottish Parliament already instructed her to do so in 2017.

“But the case for independence must be based on an alternative vision from Tory Britain. It must have equality, localism and building a new sustainable future at its heart.”

Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, denied the election result was a mandate for a second independence referendum.

She said: “Before the votes were counted, the SNP was clear it was asking for votes to stop Brexit and to stop the Tories.  It is dishonest of Nicola Sturgeon to now try and argue that votes cast on this basis give her a mandate for another referendum.

“Despite the seats won, a majority of people in Scotland, 54%, voted for pro-UK parties. “What we need now is for the majority of people throughout Scotland, from all walks of life, who believe that our future is stronger in the UK, to come together in order to reject the divisive nationalism that has become the scourge of Scotland.”