NICOLA Sturgeon is to set out her thinking on a new independence referendum when MSPs head back to Holyrood after the Easter recess.

Speaking just hours after EU leaders signed off on a six-month delay to Brexit, the First Minister said she was ready to make a statement about the implications for Scotland in the “longer term”.

Ironically, the Scottish Parliament is due back after the Easter weekend, which could mean Sturgeon talking about independence on St George’s Day on April 23.

The SNP leader is under pressure from some in her own party to hold a vote sooner rather than later.

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Chris McEleny, a former candidate for depute leader and current SNP councillor, said the First Minister should use the new extension and hold indyref2 in the months leading up to the new Halloween Brexit deadline.

In an interview with Bauer Radio, Sturgeon said: “Obviously we still don’t have clarity about the future of the UK, but I’ve always said that when we got to the end of this phase of negotiations I would set out my thinking on where or what that meant for Scotland.

“Had Parliament been recalled today I would have had the opportunity to make a statement in general about the implications of Brexit, so after the recess I will take stock with the Scottish Parliament about the implications of last night’s developments, what they mean for Scotland in the short term and how the Scottish Parliament can best influence events and hopefully help to stop Brexit in its tracks, and what it means for Scotland in the longer term.”

The SNP leader said she understood the “impatience” of people who like her believed “that the best future for Scotland is to be independent”.

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She added: “Last night those countries that were deciding the UK’s future, with the UK out of the room, included a dozen countries that have populations smaller than or similar in size to Scotland and yet Scotland and is completely sidelined by Westminster in the whole process.

“Ironically, Brexit, which was all about taking back control for Westminster, has actually highlighted how much power and influence small countries have in the EU.

“The case for independence is stronger than it’s ever been, but we need to do things at the right time and in the right way, because we’ve got to convince a majority, not just of the SNP, but a majority of people in Scotland, that independence is the right choice for the future.”

McEleny, said the First Minister needed to give voters north of the Border the “opportunity to voice their preference on the future they want for Scotland”.

He added: “With a [Brexit] extension to the end of October, we now have the clarity that people required. People in Scotland should be given the opportunity to voice their preference on the future they want for Scotland.

“Before the UK leaves the EU, it is now time to press with everything we have to give the people the opportunity to decide of they want Scotland’s future relationship with the EU decided for them or if they want to take that decision into their own hands by deciding that Scotland should become an independence country.

“An independence referendum in September of this year would give us that opportunity.”

SNP MP Angus MacNeil agreed: “The #Brexit can has been kicked down the road again we cannot follow suit by kicking the #indyref2 can behind it,” he tweeted.

The LibDems disagreed. Willie Rennie hit out at the ruling party: “The SNP should be working with us to deliver a People’s Vote and an end to the constitutional strife that is dividing the UK, not kicking off more chaos of their own making.”