SCOTTISH Tory leader Ruth Davidson has said Nicola Sturgeon decided to call for a second independence referendum because she doesn’t have a “domestic record worth talking about”.

Davidson, who has been on maternity leave since giving birth to her son in October, hit out at the First Minister ahead of her return to Holyrood on Thursday.

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, the MSP insisted Scots don’t want the “division” that comes with a second independence referendum.

READ: Nicola Sturgeon's full speech from the SNP Spring Conference

Davidson said: “Having been out of the fray for six months, my overwhelming feeling from everyone I’ve been speaking to is they want people to come back together.

“They’re done with the fighting, they don’t want the division. There’s a lot of currency for a First Minister who could be a unifying figure. Nicola Sturgeon banging on about independence is not it.”

She continued: “People can see schools are struggling, they can see the strains the NHS is under, they can see some of the issues going on with the police force.

“One of the reasons she is hitting the independence drum so hard is she doesn’t have a domestic record worth talking about. It’s as simple as that.

“There’s a job for me to do when I do come back on Thursday. There is plenty to aim at.”

Since Davidson’s maternity leave, deputy Scots Tory leader Jackson Carlaw has been leading the party.

Carlaw responded to the First Minister’s statement calling for a second independence referendum before 2021 last week by saying Sturgeon was floating “a dark cloud over Scotland’s sunny spring by updating us on her plan for a second independence referendum”.

Sturgeon responded by agreeing there was a dark cloud – but that “it’s called Brexit”.

Asked about Brexit during yesterday’s interview, Davidson added there “needs to be coalescence around a position from everybody – Remainers, Leavers, No-dealers, and Norway-plusers”.