THE next independence referendum could take place before the end of next year, Michael Russell has suggested, saying he was “quite sure” Scots would get to have their say in 2021.

Last month, the First Minister promised to set out plans for a draft bill which would set out the timescale and potential question for a new referendum.

She said the SNP would then “make the case” for this plan in the election campaign.

The Constitution Secretary – who is set to stand down at May’s election – told the BBC on Wednesday night that the Scottish Government is now in the process of pushing forward with the bill.

He said: “What we need now is that last bit of legislation which sets a date and organises the question, and there’s a process to be gone through in terms of question testing.

“So, we will publish the third part before these elections.

“We’ve said if the Scottish people endorsed that and wish it to happen then it must happen.

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“And I’m not going to do anything other than assume that it will happen in those circumstances.

“If the Scottish people speak then they have to be heard.

“And there will need to be a referendum. And, you know, that could take place, I’m quite sure, before the end of next year.”

Russell’s comments come as polls increasingly find rising support for independence.

A recent survey commissioned by STV found Yes at its highest ever recorded level.

When undecided voters were excluded, it put support for leaving the Union at 58% while No is on just 42%, 13 points down since the 2014 referendum.

Russell said a second referendum would have a far shorter timescale than in 2014, when several years passed between the signing of the Edinburgh Agreement allowing the vote and the ballot itself.

He said: “I think, inevitably, it will be shorter this time.

“There is the opportunity to have it in a reasonable period from next year’s election, which is due in May, and I think we would want to get on with it.”

Russell said there needs to be “clarity” around Scottish independence, after what he said had been an uncertain four years as a result of Brexit.

The main issue, he said, is who would be trusted by the Scottish people to rebuild after the coronavirus pandemic.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said the Scottish Government needed to focus their energies elsewhere.

He said: “This crisis is far from over. Around 100,000 jobs are at risk and businesses are closing right now, some of them for good.

“The immediate priority of people across Scotland is fighting this pandemic and saving jobs.

“It’s staggering that they would even contemplate dragging the country through that at the moment. In less than 14 months’ time, they would have Scotland divided and distracted from the huge challenges we’re facing.

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“When they should be focused on Scottish jobs, the SNP Government are in danger of losing the plot. SNP ministers need to leave the Holyrood bubble and get out in the real world where jobs and businesses are under threat.”

Nicola Sturgeon wrote to Boris Johnson last December after her party won a majority of Scotland’s seats.

She asked for a Section 30 order to allow a legally watertight independence referendum, however, that was rejected a month later by the Prime Minister.

He was asked again about indyref2 during an interview with Andrew Marr on the BBC earlier this month.

I don’t think this is the time quite frankly for us to have another referendum,” he said. “We had a referendum in 2014, we were told it was a once in a generation event.”