Nicola Sturgeon has signalled she will soon revive her demand for a second independence referendum, telling Nationalists to prepare to “get out there and make the case” for Yes.

The First Minister was asked about her intentions after saying on Wednesday she would say more about the timing of another referendum in a “matter of weeks”.

Ms Sturgeon first called for a Brexit-related referendum in March 2017, a decision backed by most MSPs, but the UK Government has refused to give Holyrood the necessary power.

After SNP losses in the last election, Ms Sturgeon “reset” her plan and promised a “precise timescale” by last autumn, but has repeatedly delayed it because of uncertainty over Brexit.

At First Minister’s Questions, Green MSP Patrick Harvie asked if she would set out the timing in the coming weeks even if the Article 50 withdrawal process was extended.

Read more: Nicola Sturgeon urged to curb SNP influence on Alex Salmond inquiry

Ms Sturgeon, who wants to postpone Brexit and have a People’s Vote, replied: “Yes… It could be that the extension of article 50 is simply a reprieve from Brexit, not a solution to it.

“There is water to go under the bridge in the next number of weeks. When it has done so, I will make my views on the timing of a choice on independence clear.

“It is then, of course, for all of us who support independence - which certainly includes me and Patrick Harvie - to get out there and make the case.”

She went on: “I believe that that case has been strengthened by what has happened in the past two and a half years, and that, if we get out and make that case, people in Scotland will choose to be an independent country and we can get on with building a better future than the one offered to us by the chaos and incompetence of Westminster.”

However her official spokesman was later unable to specify the nature of the “update”, and whether it would be the “precise timescale” Ms Sturgeon promised MSPs in June 2017.

He was also unable to put a date on it. Asked if it would be delivered before Holyrood’s Easter recess, which starts on March 31, he said: “Wait and see”. Asked if it would be before summer recess, which starts on June 30, he said: “I would expect it before then.”

It could mean an announcement at the SNP spring conference at the end of April.

However the party is still redrawing its own economic case for independence in the wake of Andrew Wilson's controversial Growth Commission report.

Read more: Nicola Sturgeon 'won't waste time' talking to May unless PM moves on Brexit

Mr Harvie said later: “Two and a half years on from the EU referendum, there is no more clarity about the future than there was at the start. In the face of such incompetent misrule from Westminster, it’s now also vital that we set out a route for Scotland to secure its future in Europe as an independent member state, even if the Brexit timetable is extended.”

Pamela Nash, chief executive of the anti-independence group Scotland in Union, said: “These were reckless and ill-advised comments from Nicola Sturgeon, who simply can’t accept that the majority of people in Scotland want her to drop her threat of a divisive and unwanted second independence referendum.

“It is not the case that support for independence grows with every day that passes – every single opinion poll in 2018 found majority support for remaining in the UK.

“Brexit has demonstrated how hard it is to leave a political union, and the SNP and Greens should recognise that.

“Whatever your views on Brexit, independence is not the answer and could be eight times as damaging to our economy as the worst-case Brexit. We are better off as part of the UK.”