NICOLA Sturgeon has set her face against actively backing a People’s Vote as she argued for delaying Brexit Day if it meant the UK could avoid a cliff-edge withdrawal from the European Union.

At Holyrood, the First Minister clashed with Willie Rennie, the Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, who accused her of dithering on backing a second EU referendum, arguing what was needed was not a delay to Brexit but the “need to stop it dead in its tracks”.

Ms Sturgeon hit back, again stressing the SNP would “not stand in the way” of a People’s Vote but suggested to Mr Rennie if he wanted her to be an enthusiastic advocate for another EU referendum, then he had to explain how that vote would “guarantee Scotland won’t simply find itself in the same position we found ourselves in June 2016; where we voted to remain in the EU but the rest of the UK voted to leave”.

Mr Rennie, to barracking, declared: “The FM should be preparing for victory not defeat.”

The Fife MSP went on: “We would have a better chance of winning the People’s Vote, if we had the Scottish Government on board. Every day the FM dithers gives comfort to those who want a hard Brexit.”

However, Ms Sturgeon made clear she had campaigned for victory in the 2016 EU referendum, helping to secure a 62 per cent vote to remain in the EU, but she noted: “You know what, it doesn’t count for anything because the rest of the UK voted to leave.”

The FM added: “It seems to me right now there is only one thing that can stop Scotland having these decisions imposed on it against its will and that is for Scotland to be independent and maybe it’s time Willie Rennie started to support that.”

At the EU summit in Salzburg as Joseph Muscat, the Maltese premier, said there was "almost unanimous" support among EU leaders for Britain to hold a second referendum on membership of the Union, Theresa May made clear: "There will be no second referendum. There has been a vote of the people, it took place in June 2016 and people voted to leave the European Union."

Earlier, Ms Sturgeon wrote to opposition leaders at Westminster, urging them to "wake up to the reality of what now faces us”.

She said: "If the choice we face is between no deal and no detail, then an extension to the Article 50 negotiation period must be on the table as the only way to avoid an economic cliff-edge and allow all alternative options to be considered."

But Adam Tomkins for the Scottish Conservatives dismissed the FM's call, saying everything she said about Brexit was with independence in mind and most Scots were "sick and tired of her posturing and can see straight through it”.