MINISTERS have spent £3.5 million since the last Holyrood election on the stalled independence campaign, new research has revealed.

Detailed analysis of Freedom of Information requests and parliamentary questions by the pro-UK lobby group Scotland in the Union, shows the sums involved in producing materials and mounting legal challenges to support the campaign.

The total figure includes: 
• A Scottish Government ‘constitutional futures division’ with salary costs of £1.39 million last year, involving 25 civil servants at one point.

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• A legal bill of £252,000 for the unsuccessful Supreme Court case brought by Nicola Sturgeon's government in an attempt to hold a second referendum using Holyrood powers.
• More than £150,000 on the design, print and translation costs of a series of policy papers on an independent Scotland. 
• Almost £70,000 on creating a minister for independence in the Scottish Government.

The Scotland in Union analysis puts the total bill at £3.44 million between September 2021 – when Ms Sturgeon outlined her Programme for Government after that year’s election – and December of this year.

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Scotland in Union called on the government to “end the spend” on its constitutional obsession in 2024 in the wake of the public service cuts announced in the draft budget announced earlier this month.

Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, said: “This is an obscene waste of taxpayers’ money.

“When the housing budget is being slashed, the NHS is in chaos, and families and businesses alike are desperate for economic growth, diverting public resources to the SNP’s divisive campaign is un-forgiveable.

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“Civil servants and ministers should be focused on what really matters to people.

“In 2024, the SNP must end the spend on its constitutional obsession and govern for all the people of Scotland.”

Minister for independence Jamie Hepburn defended the campaign.

He said: “The Scottish Government is committed to giving people in Scotland the right to choose their own future – in line with the 2021 election which returned a majority and democratic mandate in favour of an independence referendum.”

The SNP have campaigned at both Westminster and Holyrood elections on the right to hold a second independence referendum.

However, despite winning repeated elections, the UK Government has refused to agree to a new vote as is legally required, and which was forthcoming ahead of the 2014 referendum.

The impasse has stalled the SNP's campaign with the party attempting to move the debate away from the referendum process onto efforts to persuade more Scots to back independence believing rising support could put more pressure on the UK Government to agree to a new vote.

At the SNP's annual conference in October First Minister Humza Yousaf told activists to concentrate on increasing support for independence after agreeing to a new strategy on how to achieve the party's founding goal.

He abandoned Ms Sturgeon's position that the party should use the next general election as a de facto independence referendum, with the mandate taken as the SNP and other independence parties winning more than 50% of votes cast.

Instead he agreed to “begin immediate negotiations with the UK government to give democratic effect to Scotland becoming an independent country” if the party wins the majority of seats at the general election.

Mr Yousaf had managed to win round some previous critics of the party leadership, including Joanna Cherry, the MP, by backing down on a series of issues before the key vote at the SNP conference in Aberdeen.

However, he still came in for criticism from parts of the conference hall. Graeme McCormick, a land reform campaigner who unsuccessfully challenged Mike Russell, the former cabinet minister, to become SNP president, described Mr Yousaf’s strategy as “flatulence in a trance” because “nobody knows what we are talking about”.

He also agreed to a proposal from the MP Joanna Cherry to set up a constitutional convention to push for independence, to start a renewed independence campaign and to add the words “independence for Scotland” to the party’s name and logo on ballot papers.

Polls suggest Scots divided on support for independence and the union.

The latest survey by the polling company - Ipsos Mori - put Yes slightly ahead last month. Among those with a voting intention and very likely to vote, 54% say they would vote Yes in an immediate referendum while 46% say they would vote No. 

However, a YouGov tracker survey published in September found the No side remains in the lead, by 53% to 47%.