Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of being “in denial” after she refused to admit that her decision to call a second independence referendum was behind her sharp decline in popularity.

The First Minister repeatedly refused to offer an explanation for the findings of a new opinion poll showing her personal ratings have nosedived and she is now the least popular of Holyrood’s party leaders.

But her refusal to blame independence came as a high-profile SNP candidate in danger of losing his seat took out a newspaper advert stating: “This election is not about independence.”

George Kerevan, the incumbent MP for East Lothian, took out the advert in a local newspaper claiming that the election was instead “about making Theresa May listen to Scotland during Brexit.”