THERESA May accused the Scottish Government of playing the politics of division over Brexit last night as she held talks with Nicola Sturgeon in Edinburgh.

It came as respected pollster Sir John Curtice said the odds were stacked against her holding a Scottish independence referendum within five years.

Ms Sturgeon hinted last night she will delay her announcement on a second vote – whoch was expected in October.

The SNP leader said the half-hour bilateral talks with the Prime Minister failed to allay her fears the UK is heading towards a No Deal Brexit.

Questioned on what this means for her pledge to update MSPs on her Scottish independence plans in late 2018, she said: “Presumably when we get to October I will give an update.

“What the content of the update will be, by definition, I don’t know right now.”

Pushed on whether she would ever accept a request for IndyRef2 , Mrs May said: “The Scottish people voted in 2014, they had a referendum, they gave a clear decision that they wanted Scotland to remain part of the United Kingdom and I believe what we should be doing now is working to get on with the job of delivering on the future of the United Kingdom.

“That’s about Brexit, it’s about getting a good Brexit deal, it’s about all the other issues like the industrial strategy and like the city deal that i’ve just talked about.

“What I want to see is the Scottish Government also putting forward their support for the proposals that we’ve put forward to the European Union that would deliver on the vote but would also deliver for Scotland and deliver for the rest of the UK.”

Nicola Stugeon hinted she will delay her announcement on a second Scottish vote

The PM said: "We're negotiating as the United Kingdom.

"I think its incumbent on all parts of the United Kingdom to be supportive of the proposals we are putting forward in their interaction with Brussels, and I think it's important that we see those proposals being supported, rather than, sadly, what I fear we'll see here, which is an attempt to sow the politics of division."