NICOLA Sturgeon has claimed a majority of MPs could potentially support her plan for the softest possible Brexit.

The First Minister said she believed the Commons could yet back remaining in the single market and customs union, despite many MPs regarding it as “Brexit in name only”.

Ms Sturgeon also told the National Economic Forum in Dundee she feared Theresa May’s Brexit plan would leave Scotland at a “real competitive disadvantage” to Northern Ireland.

She said Ulster’s tighter regulatory alignment with the EU - something opposed by the DUP and many Tory Leavers - would give it a better foothold in the single market.

Insisting there was not an inevitable choice between No Deal and bad deal, she said . m Emphasising neither a bad deal or a no deal Brexit was inevitable, she said it was vital to avoid the economic damage which leaving the single market would inflict.

She told delegates: “The Scottish Government's view is that we should continue to press for - and I believe there is the potential for - a majority in the House of Commons around this, for the UK to stay in the single market and the customs union.

"That would be a solution that respects the outcome of the referendum, largely resolves the Irish border issue and mitigates the worst economic consequences of Brexit."

Ms Sturgeon intends to make the case for a minimal Brexit when she visits London later this week in a bid to build cross-party alliances at Westminster.

She has already confirmed SNP MPs will vote against the Prime Minister's withdrawal plan.

Ms Sturgeon said Mrs May’s draft withdrawal agreement had "long-term uncertainty is hardwired" into it and kicked difficult decisions of future trade relations down the road.

She told delegates: “We must have a concern about in future being in a situation where companies can choose Belfast and will secure unfettered access to the European single market which they wouldn't get in Dundee, Glasgow or Edinburgh.

"That would be a real competitive disadvantage for Scotland and is something that is uppermost in the Scottish Government's mind."

Organised by the Scottish Government, the National Economic Forum is a regular event attended by ministers and senior figures from business, the public sector and trade unions.