Sturgeon asked her Scottish National Party (SNP) lawmakers in Stirling, the site of a historic Scots battle over the English in 1297.
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Referring to last week’s government expenditure and revenue Scotland figures – which revealed a deficit of almost £15m – as “not a verdict on independence but an indictment of generations of Westminster government”, she announced a new party growth commission, chaired by the former MSP Andrew Wilson.
She told Mandy Rhodes, the author of a new book, Scottish National Party Leaders, that instead of dealing with her grief at home she attended on January 3 2011 the 40th anniversary of the Ibrox disaster, in which 66 Rangers football supporters were crushed to death.
Rona Mackay said: “I was incredibly inspired by the speech Nicola Sturgeon gave outlining the continuation of competent actions to protect Scotland”.
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.
Ms Sturgeon was deputy first minister and Scottish health secretary when she and her husband Peter Murrell, SNP chief executive, lost the baby in the early months of pregnancy in 2011.
Meanwhile Stirling University student Eireann McAuley said that Ms Sturgeon should have launched a listening drive for Stirling students who are paying extortionate rents for university accommodation and pushing them further into debt.
Opposition parties in Scotland were infuriated by Ms Sturgeon’s pledge – hours after the Brexit vote – that she would begin preparing legislation for a second referendum.
Ms Sturgeon claimed ner campaign would be a new debate and not just a rerun of the ideas discussed ahead of the 2014 poll that saw Scots vote by 55% to 45% in favour of remaining part of the UK.
“That’s the will of the people of Scotland on both issues and it is a will my party shares”.
She added: “I know that we are right to keep a third option on the table and that is the option of considering again in these very different circumstances if Scotland should become an independent country”.
“By the end of this parliament we will have delivered 112 new or refurbished schools across every local authority in Scotland – more than double the number envisaged when the Schools for the Future programme started”.
Labour leadership contender Owen Smith has said Scotland should not have a second independence referendum – just two days after he stated he would not oppose such a ballot.
“Do we control our own destiny or will we always be at the mercy of decisions taken elsewhere?”
Setting out plans for the new conversation on independence, which will run until St Andrew’s Day, Ms Sturgeon added: “We want to understand in detail how people feel about Europe, Brexit and independence”.
“If the SNP were really listening to the people of Scotland they would be focusing on the bread and butter issues that matter to Scots like our public services”, Scottish Labour MP James Kelly said. “I don’t think there is going to be a referendum until the first minster thinks she can win”.
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“If the centrepiece of the SNP’s programme today is another divisive referendum rather than a bold and radical plan to make Scotland fairer, stronger and more prosperous it will be a missed opportunity”.
