FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon appears set to offer an update on the timetable of a new independence referendum within the next few days.

She made the remarks in a response to Scottish Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie during First Minister's Questions.

Sturgeon had told journalists during a visit to Westminster in mid-January that she would offer an update on indyref2timing "within weeks".

Today, Harvie asked: "Scotland needs the freedom to take a different direction, to leave behind this chaos and find our own way out of the crisis. It's why we need our independence.

"The First Minister told us that she would say something about her preferred timing within weeks. That was two months ago. So can I ask again, when?"

Responding to the Greens MSP, Sturgeon said: "On the issue of independence, the frustration people feel right now at our country, Scotland's future, being determined by the DUP and a cabal of right-wing Tories is understandable, and I absolutely share it.

"I said I'd wait until the end of this phase of the Brexit negotiations before setting out my views on the way forward for Scotland.

"Having done so this long, I think it is reasonable to wait to see what clarity emerges in the next few days, even if I suspect it will just be clarity that there will be no clarity – and then I will set out my views on the path forward.

"But nobody can be in any doubt that change is needed. The last three years have shown that the status quo is broken. It cannot protect Scotland from the folly of Brexit and all that follows that.

"Even the most ardent Unionist must see that the way we are governed now by Westminster is broken. The question is how do we fix that for the future, and there's no doubt in my mind that letting people in Scotland choose an independent future is the best way to do that."

LibDem leader Willie Rennie then said Scottish independence would compound the "division and chaos" of Brexit.

Sturgeon replied: "The inconsistency in Willie Rennie's position is this – he wants people across the UK to have the ability to escape Brexit through a second referendum and I agree with him on that.

"But if that doesn't prove to be possible he thinks that Scotland should just grin and bear it and put up with the devastation of Brexit instead of Scotland having the choice to escape Brexit and have an independent future."