A DRAFT bill to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence is to be published within the next ten months.

Nicola Sturgeon made the dramatic announcement – surprising even some of her own backbenchers – at the end of a statement in Holyrood yesterday in which she set out a wide-ranging programme for government focused on boosting the economy, introducing education reforms and legislation to combat inequality and promote social justice.

She unveiled the proposal for a new plebiscite as she turned to the issue of Brexit, highlighting the Remain vote in Scotland and the risk leaving the European Union poses to the country’s economy and wider affairs.

“Let me turn briefly to the issue of the EU,” she told MSPs. “Sixty two per cent of those who voted in Scotland, voted to remain. That’s why I am determined to pursue all options to protect our place in Europe.”

And she added: “However, to ensure that all options are open to us, this programme for government makes clear that we will consult on a draft Referendum Bill, so that it is ready for immediate introduction if we conclude that independence is the best or only way to protect Scotland’s interests.”

No date has been announced for when the draft Referendum Bill will be unveiled, but a source close to the First Minister said it would be forthcoming “during the current parliamentary year” which runs until the end of June next year.

The proposals will then be open to public consultation with the bill likely to be introduced into Holyrood sometime later.

It is understood that to date no draft bill published by an SNP Government has not gone on to be formally introduced in the Scottish Parliament.

The bold move comes two years after Scotland first went to the polls to decide whether the country should be independent with the vote to stay in the Union winning by 55 per cent to 45 per cent.

However, yesterday’s announcement that a new bill would be published allowing voters to decide again follows an election manifesto pledge made by the SNP in April to “hold another referendum if there is clear and sustained evidence that independence has become the preferred option of the Scottish people” or “if there is a significant and material change in circumstances... such as Scotland being taken out of the EU against our will”.

The source close to the First Minister added that the publication of the draft bill would not be dependent on the First Minister’s ongoing work exploring options of keeping Scotland in the EU.

“The programme for government covers the coming legislative year, so that is the timescale we’ve got,” he said.

Greens co-convener Patrick Harvie welcomed individual policies set out in the programme, including gender equality on public boards and action on child poverty, and backed the First Minister’s right to consider holding a second vote on independence.

“The complex new challenges which are coming to this parliament and the profound economic and political uncertainty from the EU referendum result, in fact not only from the result itself but from the fundamental dishonesty of the Brexit campaigners and the utterly bafflingly incoherent position so far of the UK Government – these are fundamentally challenging times for any Scottish Government and I’m clear, as I’ve put on the record before the summer recess, that all options must remain on the table to represent and respect Scotland’s strong remain vote,” said Harvie.

“I have to say it is a bit risible to suggest that either we or Nicola Sturgeon is somehow trying to hide the view that independence remains a choice that the Scottish people have a right to make if they so decide.”

The announcement on the plans come days after the SNP leader announced the party’s biggest “listening exercise” on independence which will see town hall debates on the question and a doorstep campaign by party activists take place over the next three months.

The Scottish Greens, which also backed a Yes vote in 2014, are also preparing their own independence push, and likewise the Scottish Socialist Party are meeting today to discuss how to further a socialist independence argument.

But the unionist parties rounded on the First Minister for raising the prospect of a second ballot.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson urged her to ditch the “threat” of a second referendum and focus on governance, adding that she was disappointed by the SNP’s “failure to listen” on the economy.

Energy is being “diverted into an endless political campaign”, she said, with Sturgeon’s list of legislation serving as “a warm-up act to nudge the independence caravan another few inches along the road”.

“The single biggest economic lever that the SNP could pull right now to help the country grow would be to remove the threat of a second referendum.That is what is holding us back.”

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale also hit out.

“Let me be absolutely clear. She will find no support on these benches for a second independence referendum,” she said.