The bill would then be ready for “immediate” introduction if it becomes clear that there was voter support for Scottish independence, Sturgeon said, without giving a timeframe.
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The Scottish Government has already set up a new business information service to provide advice and support for firms anxious about Brexit while a post-referendum business network is being set up with the Scotland Office, Scottish Trades Union Congress and business organisations to help shape future policy and support.
“We must act now to protect that position”, she stressed, announcing that her officials were now preparing that legislation.
She said it was “disappointing” an education bill would not be brought forward until next year, despite it being her “driving ambition”.
She insisted that she would continue to pursue all available options to protect Scottish relations with the European Union, but confirmed that civil servants are drafting a referendum Bill “so that it is ready for immediate introduction if we conclude that independence is the best or only way to protect Scotland’s interests”.
Despite Labour’s jeers at her apparent U-turn in Holyrood on Tuesday, Sturgeon has been slowly and carefully lowering the temperature on a second referendum, gradually stressing the case for increasing Scotland’s influence over the final Brexit deal.
“If the miscarriage hadn’t happened, would I be sitting here as First Minister right now?”
Ms Davidson said her party wanted to see more opportunities for Scottish firms to export overseas, major new investment in home-energy efficiency, a “genuinely ambitious” housebuilding programme and cuts to business rates. Now does that mean Scotland would automatically and inevitably vote to be independent? No. Excluding don’t knows, it found that opposition to independence was at 54% and support at 46% – the same figure as in the 2014 referendum. That was equivalent to 21% of overall government spending in Scotland or 9.5% of GDP, a budget deficit larger than that of Greece.
“We do not look back at the referendum on independence with much in the way of nostalgia”.
She added: “We know it takes additional money and a shift in priorities, but the benefits of such a drive are obvious”.
Speaking ahead of her statement in Holyrood, Sturgeon said: “Today we will publish our programme for government – an ambitious plan to improve the lives of people across Scotland. A sense of solidarity versus the ideology of the small state”.
The SNP leader has been accused of “shifting the goalposts” after she offered to form a “coalition” with Tory ministers – where she hinted said she would only want another independence referendum if access to the single market was not secured.
The Scottish Growth Scheme marked “a new departure for the Scottish Government”, Sturgeon admitted: “It is an exceptional response to an exceptional economic challenge”.
Sturgeon also moved to address concerns about the ability of the Scottish economy to underwrite her social policies.
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In July a year ago, Ms Sturgeon was depicted on the widely criticised cover of a political magazine as a “childless” female politician.
