NICOLA Sturgeon is set to publish her argument for indyref2 next year.

The document, entitled Scotland’s Right to Choose, will, the government say, outline “the clear democratic case for the transfer of power from Westminster to the Scottish Parliament, to enable a referendum on Scottish independence that is beyond legal challenge.”

The publication comes after last week’s election saw pro-independence MPs win 48 of Scotland’s 59 Westminster seats, taking 45% of the vote.

The First Minister has previously said she would like to have an independence referendum in the second half of next year.

But during the General Election campaign Boris Johnson guaranteed that he would not countenance granting the Scottish Government a Section 30 order to allow a legally watertight referendum.

“I can guarantee that we will reject any request from the SNP Government to hold an independence referendum,” the Prime Minister said at the Scottish Tory manifesto launch. There will be no negotiation - we will mark that letter return to sender and be done with it.”

Speaking ahead of this morning’s publication, the First Minister said: “There is a clear mandate for this nation to have the power to decide its own future.

“The result of last week’s General Election makes that mandate unarguable.

“So with the publication of this document, we lay out the detailed case for putting Scotland’s future into Scotland’s hands.

“We will take forward work to update the detailed and substantive case for independence. But, whatever people’s views on the issue of independence itself, there is a wide and growing consensus that Scotland must be able to choose its own future.

“Now that the election is over, and the result so overwhelmingly clear, I believe that consensus is growing by the day. And let me be clear, the demand for this country to have the right to determine its own path comes not just from me as First Minister – it flows from the people of Scotland and the verdict they delivered last week.

“The Scottish Government believes that right should be exercised free from the threat of legal challenge. We understand that a referendum must be accepted as legitimate, here in Scotland and the UK, as well as in the EU and the wider international community.

“There is no doubt whatsoever there has been a material change in circumstances since 2014.

“Today I urge people in Scotland to rally round the case for Scotland’s right to choose – our right to self-determination.

“It is not the time for Scotland to give up on reasoned and democratic argument – but to pursue it ever more confidently.”

Earlier this week the Mail on Sunday’s front page said the Prime Minister was planning on sending a “love bomb” to Scotland after voters here failed to back him.

It was reported yesterday that Michael Gove could be charged with strengthening the Union.

The Press and Journal yesterday said plans are being brought forward to invest cash north of the border through a UK shared prosperity fund in the New Year.

A policy unit in Downing Street dedicated to the Union is also due to be beefed-up.

The paper also reported that the Dunlop Review into devolution has also been completed and calls for the creation of a specific department for the Union.

A Tory source told the paper: “Boris will be looking to love bomb Scotland.

“Strengthening the Union really is a top priority.”

On Gove, the Tory source added: “He has been doing the preparatory work for a no-deal Brexit, but with the election result we’re able to leave with a deal, so this is something Michael could really now turn his attention to and get his teeth into,” the Tory source added.

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday, interim Scottish Conservatives leader Jackson Carlaw said the SNP administration should be focussing more on Brexit than independence.

He said the result of the general election had “confirmed beyond doubt or debate” that the “whole United Kingdom together will be leaving the European Union at the end of next month.”

Carlaw urged the First Minister to “break the cycle of uncertainty that has hung over Scotland for so long”.

Last week a poll for the Courier put support for independence on 49.3%.

Writing in the Times earlier this week, the polling expert Professor John Curtice said the SNP would be “rejuvenated” and that the Scottish Conservatives would need to “demonstrate how being part of post-Brexit Britain is in fact benefitting Scotland.”