SCOTTISH First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned Prime Minister Theresa May that standing in the way of a second independence referendum would “shatter beyond repair” any notion that the United Kingdom is a partnership of equals.

Closing the SNP’s spring conference, she said that if the parliament at Holyrood votes for a second referendum, the demand for another ballot will become “the will of the democratically elected Parliament of Scotland.”

Ms Sturgeon said she had been met with a “brick wall of intransigence” in her negotiations with Ms May, and warned the PM that “if she shows the same condescension and inflexibility to other countries as she has to Scotland, then the Brexit negotiations will hit the rocks.”