Nicola Sturgeon has said Scotland should remain in the single market after Brexit under the same backstop deal as Northern Ireland.

The Scottish first minister told Sky News that without the same deal for Scotland, Glasgow and Belfast might find themselves competing for investment.

She hinted that this could mean Scotland becoming independent, just after Theresa May's spokesman said this is not the right time for a second referendum.

The SNP leader called for a people's vote on a final Brexit deal as she accused the government of failing to loop the Scottish government in over the negotiations.

Speaking to Sky News' political editor Faisal Islam at the SNP conference in Glasgow, Ms Sturgeon said: "If we are looking down the road to a situation where Belfast is still in the single market, and Glasgow is not, then any responsible first minister of Scotland is going to say 'that's a big worry for us'.


"So it just underlines this notion that however it happens over the next few years, whether it's through a differential relationship with Scotland with the EU, or whether it's around Scotland looking again at becoming independent and securing its relationship with the single market that way, it will become very important for us to find a way of doing it."

The SNP leader said she did not want to have checks on the Scottish-English border.

Image: The Scottish first minister said she has been kept out of the loop

She said she still wants Scottish independence but denied wanting to gain it through as chaotic a Brexit as possible.

"I certainly don't want there to be a chaotic Brexit for any part of the UK because actually, even if Scotland becomes independent, having England taking decisions that are economically bad for it is not in Scotland's interest so I don't actually want all of these things to happen," she said.

"They may well happen, and that may well make it more likely that Scotland becomes independent but it doesn't mean I'm wishing for that."

On not being updated on Brexit negotiations, Ms Sturgeon said: "If you take the technical notices that have been issued over the past weeks, couple of months now, you know I think the Scottish government has seen them with three days' notice or something to make any factual comments.

"So we're not as looped into that as we should be and that's been one of the frustrations throughout this process."