THE Tories have accused Nicola Sturgeon of still being obsessed by independence after it emerged her government renewed its ownership of the main 2014 referendum website.

The Scottish Government first registered the scotreferendum.com domain in January 2012.

Although its content was mothballed shortly after the referendum, the government renewed its ownership of the site for a year in October, two days after the SNP conference.

The ownership now expires in January 2018, meaning the government will have to renew it again if Ms Sturgeon is have a referendum vote before the 2021 election.

Tory MP Ross Thomson said: “It’s clear SNP ministers came home from conference and made getting the separation website up-and-running again a priority.

“The conference finished on the Saturday, and that renewal took place on the Monday – it was literally the first thing they did when they got back to the office.

“This is despite polls clearly showing no public appetite for the breakup of Britain, and the First Minister herself stating it was matters like education that were her priority.

“It goes to show the SNP can never be trusted on this issue.”

Ministers said it was a “ludicrous” fuss over something that cost taxpayers just £9.

A spokesperson for Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said: “The cost to the taxpayer of the Tory press office issuing this ludicrous press release will no doubt have far exceeded the £9 annual cost of maintaining a simple web domain – one which holds archived news and information on what was one of the biggest democratic exercises in our nation’s history.”