NICOLA Sturgeon has set out fundamental questions Theresa May must answer about Brexit, demanding she make clear the “general direction” the UK will take in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union.

Speaking at the Journalists’ Charity lunch in Glasgow, the First Minister said despite the passage of time since the leave result in the June 23 ballot there were no clear answers from the Prime Minister as to what Brexit would mean for the economy, jobs, universities, scientists, farmers and for the right to travel.

“It is quite extraordinary to think this three months on, but right now there are no answers to any of these questions, or the plethora of other questions people are understandably asking,” she said.

“I want to set out three of the most important I think must be answered, and must be answered soon, because they are fundamental to our economy and our people.

“First, does the Prime Minister want us to remain in the single market? I accept that achieving that will take negotiation but surely we must know whether or not that is an objective.

“Second, will we need visas in the future to travel to Europe? Is the UK setting us on a path where we will see a holiday tax imposed upon us?

“Third, will workers’ rights be guaranteed, holiday pay, maternity rights, the things that we all have come to take for granted, are they guaranteed or are they all at risk?

“On these vital practical questions there have been no answers.

I accept that at this stage the Prime Minister can’t answer every question, but I do think it is reasonable to expect that the general direction of travel is set out.”

The First Minister defended her stance of keeping a second independence referendum on the table in line with her party’s manifesto commitment to have the right to hold a vote if Scotland opted to remain while the UK voted to leave Europe.

“If we don’t retain the option we would be accepting that no matter how damaging to our economy and society Westminster decisions turn out to be, we would be powerless to choose a better future.

“I don’t think that would be sensible or an acceptable position to place ourselves in.”

On a lighter note she discussed the significant press attention given to the BBC show The Great British Bake Off after it emerged it would be switching to Channel 4 before making a joke about Scottish Labour’s leader Kezia Dugdale failure to register a vote on Thursday – saving the Scottish Government from defeat in a debate on council tax reforms.

“This hasn’t been our only entertainment of late. We’ve also had the Labour Party,” she said.

“Tomorrow the latest chapter in this blockbuster reaches its climax with the smart money being of course on Jeremy Corbyn being re-elected as leader of the Labour Party and his party splitting as a result of that. That’s something that is already taking shape.

“We have the new new Labour Party led by Chukka Umunna, the blue Labour Party led by Liz Kendall...the Provisional Labour Party led by John McDonnell and, of course, the Scottish Labour Party. And, in a very strange day, the Scottish Labour Party is going to be led by the first ever MSP in Holyrood to successfully manage to press the wrong button.”

She added: “Apologies to my Labour colleagues – this is all meant in jest.”

Meanwhile, Alex Salmond last night told an audience in Edinburgh that “it would be a negation of our history and certainly of our future prosperity if we were to allow our thousand-year relationship with Europe to be now severed by the likes of Boris Johnson”.

He added: “Full English Brexit is bad for Scotland’s economic health and cultural identity. Thus, as the modern and elected guardian of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon is now moving with purpose to protect Scotland’s European connection. Of course this conceivably could be done within the United Kingdom if Westminster politicians had the wit and the wisdom to pursue it.

“But all the smoke signals from Whitehall are for hard-line Brexit with no special treatment for Scotland. In which case we should and must prepare for a referendum on independence in around two years time to give Scotland the opportunity to re-assert itself as a European nation with no break in that relationship.”