TORY leadership contender Michael Gove has sparked a furious reaction after he said there was “no appetite” for a second referendum on independence despite the prospect of Scotland being pulled out of the EU against its will.

The Edinburgh-born cabinet minister was one of the leading figures in the Brexit campaign and has launched a bid to succeed David Cameron after saying his fellow Leaver Boris Johnson was unfit to lead the party.

Pro-independence politicians said Gove’s remarks were an indication that he would block another independence referendum if he was to win the Tory leadership election and become the next Prime Minister.

Last night, the SNP accused Gove of being “wildly out of touch with public opinion in Scotland” and of failing to recognise that the Brexit vote had led to a surge in support for independence.

Meanwhile, Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson contradicted Gove and said the UK Government should not block a potential second Scottish independence referendum, even though she was personally against against holding such a vote.

Davidson said that talk of a second referendum is “further destabilising” in the wake of the Brexit result and that Nicola Sturgeon has acted “prematurely” in discussing the prospect of one.

The SNP manifesto for May’s Holyrood election said a “significant and a material change’’ of the circumstances in which Scotland voted against independence in 2014 could trigger a second referendum.

But Gove, the MP for Surrey Heath since 2005 claimed there was no demand among people in Scotland for a fresh independence referendum despite voters north of the Border having backed Remain by a margin of 62 per cent to 38 per cent while the UK as a whole supported Leave by 52 per cent to 48 per cent.

The First Minister said the prospect of Scotland being dragged out of the EU despite the decisive vote to Remain was “democratically unacceptable” and made another vote on independence vote “highly likely”.

However, Gove, who was raised in Aberdeen, insisted that Scotland was not heading towards a second independence referendum, despite Scots being told that the only way to secure their place in Europe was to vote No in 2014.

Gove’s comments will be seen as a signal that he would seek to obstruct moves to hold another referendum on an independent Scotland.

“I don’t believe that we will need to go down that path,” he said.

“There is no appetite for a second referendum,” Gove said during an appearance on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show. An SNP spokesman said Gove had imposed Tory austerity measures on Scots and called on the cabinet minister to “accept the democratic principle” that the Scottish electorate had the right to demand a fresh vote on independence.

The party spokesman said: “He is also wildly out of touch with public opinion in Scotland, with every poll showing support for independence leading and as much as 60 per cent saying there should be a referendum in the next three years following the Brexit vote.

“This is the same man who backed six years of Tory austerity, voted against more powers for Scotland, and whose pitch for the Tory leadership also includes a threat to slash Scotland’s budget.

“Mr Gove and his Tory colleagues led the campaign for Brexit but had no plan for the aftermath – leaving Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP Scottish Government to fix their mess. They have taken the country and the economy to the edge of a cliff and are intent on dragging Scotland out of the EU against the clear wishes of the Scottish people.

“The Tories should stop pontificating and start listening to the Scottish people.

“They should back Nicola Sturgeon’s efforts to keep Scotland in the EU, and accept the democratic principle that Scotland’s future will be in the hands of the Scottish people not Tory Brexiteers.

“As we have also said a second independence referendum is an option which requires to be on the table and to ensure that option is a deliverable one in the required timetable steps are being taken now to ensure that the necessary legislation is in place.”

Scottish Greens co-convenor Patrick Harvie accused Gove of putting down a marker to oppose a second independence referendum despite polling showing growing demand among Scots for such a vote.

Harvie said: “It’s ironic that Gove was intent on imposing a referendum on Scotland that the people had no interest in having and now seems determined to deny a referendum that more and more people in Scotland appear to favour.”

Gove’s remarks came as polling suggested home secretary Theresa May is heading towards victory in the Tory leadership election, while bitter recriminations over his decision to pull the rug from under Johnson’s leadership bid appear to have dented his prospect.

May was backed by 60 per cent of Tory voters, with Gove second on 10 points and energy minister Andrea Leadsom on six, according to an ICM opinion poll. Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb and former Defence Secretary Liam Fox are also standing in the contest.

Scottish Tory leader Davidson did not reveal who she is supporting in the UK party leadership contest but said she wants the UK to remain in the EU single market, even if it means immigration policy remaining as it is.

On the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland programme, she was asked about the prospect of a second referendum.

When asked if the UK Government – which approved the 2014 independence referendum in the Edinburgh Agreement – should allow a future independence vote, Davidson said: “I would argue as strong as I could that we should stay part of our biggest market and closest friend.

“Constitutionally the UK Government shouldn’t block it, no.”