THE newly elected depute leader of the SNP has said it would “not be right” to rule out a second independence referendum until after 2021.

In the first in-depth newspaper interview since his election as Nicola Sturgeon’s second in command Keith Brown hit back at a call made by former Scottish Government Health Secretary Alex Neil that the First Minister should put a new plebiscite on hold until after the next Holyrood election in three years.

The former Economy Secretary said Neil – who voted to leave the EU – had a more positive stance towards Brexit than he had.

READ IN FULL: Our exclusive interview with Keith Brown

“Alex Neil has been more sanguine about Brexit than I’ve ever been,” Brown told The National.

“There is already talk of stock piling medicines, of rationing of massive queues at the border. It raises a whole host of scenarios and the one thing you don’t want to do is to rule out the possibility of presenting the people of Scotland with a better alternative. I think ruling it out is not the right thing to do.”

Brown also re-affirmed his view there may be a new independence referendum in “one year or two years”.

Sturgeon has promised an update on the issue of a second referendum this autumn, when there is due to be more clarity surrounding the future UK/EU relationship.

The issue over the timing of a second independence referendum dominated this year’s SNP’s depute leadership election. During the contest Brown said he didn’t know when there would be a new referendum, but that it could be in one or two years.

Pressed on if this was still his view, he said: “It could be one year or two years and we have to be ready for it and I remain of that view, yes.”

Asked then if he was also suggesting it could be in five years, he said: “No, I’m not saying that.”

Brown spoke to The National as the SNP steps up its campaign for independence with internal events and meetings with the wider grassroots Yes movement planned.

As depute leader he will chair a series of National Assembly meetings, starting tomorrow, to discuss the findings of the Growth Commission, which sets out a new economic blueprint for independence.

Three meetings are to be held over the coming weeks and the SNP’s 292 branches and constituencies are also to each host discussions on its findings.

READ MORE: This is the most likely independence timetable

The Commission, haired by the former MSP Andrew Wilson, reported in May and recommended an independent Scotland should continue to use the pound though not in a formal currency union with the UK for a transition period of around a decade before establishing a new currency.

Along with another key recommendation to reduce the public deficit to under 3% by year ten, the findings provoked a debate in the SNP and the wider Yes movement, with critics on the left saying the model would further austerity.

The First Minister, and Wilson, rejected such criticism, with the latter saying his report offered arguments that would boost Scotland’s prosperity and persuade a section of No voters to back Yes, and help secure independence.

Brown said the commission’s findings and the National Assembly meetings would provide “the chance to reassert the why of independence”.

He rebutted criticism members were not going to be able to discuss the findings at this October’s conference. A resolution on the Commission could be put down for next year’s Spring conference, he said.

He added the Assemblies were being organised to allow members to arm themselves with arguments about why Scotland should be independent – which they could then take to people on door-steps.

“Party members want to be active in a campaign for independence but they want to discuss [the arguments] as well and the Growth Commission has thrown up lots of issues to discuss. Members want to campaign for independence, and they also want to be armed with the right arguments as well,” he said.

During the interview Brown discussed what he thought would happen if the First Minister called a referendum and the Prime Minister rejected a section 30 order.

He also revealed he was talking to Yes groups, the Scottish Independence Convention and the Scottish Socialist Party about how to take the campaign for an independent Scotland forward.

He later said that in addition to engaging with party members about the Growth Commission over the next three weekends, almost 300 branches and constituencies would be asked to host discussions on it.

“We will be asking our 292 local organisations to host discussions around the growth commission report,” he said.