NICOLA Sturgeon is playing a blinder in the Brexit debacle. With the publication of Scotland’s Place in Europe, the First Minister has pushed Theresa May into a corner, forcing her to prove that the UK really is a partnership of equals.

In 2014, Scotland was invited by the No campaign to “lead not leave the UK”. The fact that the Scottish Government is the only administration anywhere in the UK to publish a plan for Brexit shows that we’ve risen to that challenge. The dog’s Brexit is not of our making, yet Nicola Sturgeon is demonstrating what responsible government looks like.

It’s ironic to think that in 2014 the Yes movement was accused of not having a plan. They rubbished our 650-page White Paper, but the same people who condemned it don’t have a single side of A4 on how to deal with Brexit.

Let’s be clear about the aim of Scotland’s Place in Europe. It doesn’t change our goal of full EU membership. Party policy has not shifted to a Norway-style EFTA model. Indeed, party policy was confirmed at the SNP conference in October: if EU membership cannot be guaranteed as part of the UK, preparations for a second independence referendum should begin.

A Norway model, while giving us access to the single market, would seriously muffle our voice in Europe. EFTA States must abide by EU single market legislation without being represented in EU institutions. They have no say over several internal market laws including social policy, environmental laws, company law and consumer policy. They must do as they’re told but have no vote, no veto, no MEPs, no commissioner and no judge in the European Court of Justice. We would have less of a voice than we have now.

The paper contains a menu of workable proposals, rather than a wish list, to safeguard Scotland’s national interest as much as possible. With the exception of full EU membership, they all represent the lesser of several evils, but ultimately, they are a test of the goodwill of the UK Government.

And make no mistake – they will also be a test of Theresa May’s premiership. It will challenge her political judgment – and the extent to which she values the Union – to the utmost. If there is no way to accommodate Scotland’s democratic will and national interests within the UK, there is no future for the UK.

Former Cabinet secretaries Alex Neil and Kenny MacAskill argue that Europe should not be the SNP’s only game, yet neither of them tell us what the alternative game should be. That’s because there is no alternative. If Scotland hadn’t voted emphatically for Remain while England and Wales voted Leave, we wouldn’t be having a conversation about indyref2.

Put bluntly, we held the 2014 independence referendum because the SNP won a majority in 2011. But indyref2 cannot and must not be a repeat of 2014. Next time we will need more than just a Holyrood majority; the public must be convinced that there is real justification for constitutional change. Being dragged out of the world’s largest market – that supports up to 80,000 Scottish jobs – is that justification. Europe and independence may well have been two separate issues in the past. They are no longer.

Those who say that the EU’s ambitions in social and cohesion policy have waned have a point. But contrary to popular belief, real power in the EU doesn’t lie in its institutions – it lies with its member states. With the exception of a few socialist governments, the people of Europe are currently being governed by right wing or populist parties. That will change. Scotland shouldn’t accept neo-liberalism, but challenge it. And we can only do that if we’re in the room, not isolated and voiceless.

The argument that many Yes voters will abandon independence because they want out of the EU is a total non-starter and simply unfounded. The version of independence that the Yes campaign argued for in 2014 was independence in Europe. This was clear in the White Paper and was one of the big issues that dominated the referendum campaign. People knew what they were voting for.

Isolationism and anti-Europeanism is a dead end for the independence movement. It also completely disrespects the will of the Scottish people. Yes Scotland was the most inclusive campaign in our history because it was underpinned by civic nationalism and a hunger to join the international stage.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder, working constructively with your neighbours and developing mutually acceptable solutions to regional and global problems is one of the most fundamental attributes of an independent country. When nations have mutual interests, working together is better than going it alone.

With 62 per cent of the vote, Scotland voted for Europe by a greater margin than it voted for the Union in 2014. Our task now is to reach out to the Remainers who were not convinced by independence two years ago, but are outraged by the prospect of losing their European citizenship.

If the Prime Minister rejects the First Minister’s proposals to keep Scotland in the single market, Scotland will have to choose between two unions. One is a club of independent countries, comprising 500 million people, and a dozen small nations like Finland – which this year celebrates 100 years of independence. The other is increasingly isolated and inward-looking, led by a closed-minded government that will impose austerity on its people for many more years to come. That’s the reality of the choice we face – a choice we must make manifest to the country over the year ahead.