THE First Minister has hit out at the Prime Minister's leadership on Brexit.

Nicola Sturgeon said that Theresa May's "one note of consistency in all of this has been contempt for Scotland".

She launched the scathing attack on Theresa May's stewardship over Brexit while kicking off a debate at Holyrood.

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon: 'May's only consistency has been her contempt for Scotland'

Later today, in a first since devolution 20 years ago, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly will vote simultaneously on a motion declaring opposition to the EU divorce deal agreed by the UK Government.

Read the First Minister's speech in full below:

"Presiding officer, in Cardiff this afternoon, Jeremy Miles, the Welsh Brexit Minister, will open a debate on almost exactly the same motion as the one we are debating here today. The Welsh First Minister will close the debate.

"It is worth emphasising that this is the first occasion in 20 years of devolution that the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly have acted in unison in this way.

"We have been brought together by our dismay – bordering now on despair – at the UK Government’s approach to Brexit. That despair is echoed across our countries.

"As recently as last summer, the Prime Minister confidently told me that by the autumn of last year, not only would we know the terms of exit, we would also know significant detail about the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

"And yet here we are, just 24 days until the UK is due to leave the EU. And still we don’t know if there will be any agreed terms of exit. We don’t know if there will be a transition phase.

"And the terms of the future relationship are not much more than a blank sheet of paper. The potential consequences for businesses, communities, individuals and public services grow more stark by the day.

"And in the face of all this chaos, the Prime Minister is showing no decisive leadership. Instead of doing the right thing and ruling out a no-deal exit at any stage, she insists on freewheeling the car ever closer to the cliff edge.

"She is trying to run down the clock, making undeliverable promises to hardline Brexiteers and offering tawdry, half-baked bribes to Labour MPs.

"Her one note of consistency in all of this has been contempt for Scotland. Seemingly, we aren’t even worthy of her bribes – though I think we should take that as a compliment.

"The domestic and international standing of the Westminster system of government has surely never been lower in any of our lifetimes. This fiasco should not be allowed to continue for even one day more. The Scottish and Welsh Parliaments are today making three demands.

"The first is that the prospect of leaving the EU with no deal is ruled out – not just at the end of March, but at any time.

"The second is that MPs must not allow themselves to be bullied into choosing between the catastrophe of no deal and the disaster of the government’s deal.

"And the third is that an extension of Article 50 is essential and urgent, and must be requested now. The demand to rule out a “no-deal” scenario is, I hope, supported across this chamber.

"The Scottish Government is doing everything we can to plan for and mitigate the impact of a no-deal Brexit.

"I am personally chairing our weekly Resilience meetings, looking at medicine and food supplies, economic and community impacts and transport links.

"But every aspect of that planning reinforces this overwhelming reality – no rational government acting in the interests of those it serves would countenance leaving the EU without a deal.

"The UK Government’s own forecasts predict that a no-deal scenario could reduce GDP by 9% over a 15 year period. But you just need to look at the nature of the preparations to know that the impact would be much more immediate.

"The UK government has been buying fridges to stockpile medicine. It has been testing motorways and airfields in Kent for use as lorry parks. It has been awarding and then cancelling ferry contracts to businesses which don’t even have ships.

"It has been taking steps which should be inconceivable in a developed economy in peacetime. And all of it to plan for an avoidable outcome which, if it happens, will be by choice.

"The approach of the UK Government is unforgivably reckless. ‘No deal’ should be definitively ruled out - and today, from Edinburgh and Cardiff, we demand that it is.

"However – and this brings me to the second purpose of today’s motion – the UK Government must not use the threat of no deal to blackmail the UK Parliament into voting for its current deal.

"The response to the rejection of Theresa May’s deal has so far been characterised by delays, denials, dishonesty and most recently desperate attempts at bribery.

"Ministers have wasted months pretending that significant changes to the Northern Ireland backstop are possible – despite all evidence to the contrary.

"Much better, surely, to face up to the fact that the deal is unpopular because it is a bad deal – for the UK, and certainly for Scotland. It would take us out of the EU, out of the single market and out of the custom union.

"But it provides no clarity whatsoever on what our long-term future relationship with the EU looks like. The UK Parliament is effectively being asked to approve a ‘blindfold Brexit’.

"To the extent that any direction of travel can be discerned, it points to a long-term social and economic disaster for Scotland. The red lines mean that we are heading towards a Canada style deal at best.

"And let’s focus on what that means - the Scottish Government estimates this could lead to a fall in national income of £1600 per person by 2030 compared with EU membership. Our services sector, three-quarters of our economy, will be particularly badly hit.”