Jeremy Corbyn's "divided" Labour party will help push Scotland firmly towards another independence referendum, Alex Salmond has said.

The former first minister claimed splits within the Labour party caused by the election of the radical left-winger coupled with David Cameron's "failure" to deliver on his promise for more devolution to Scotland has sharply increased the likelihood of a new referendum.

However, he accepted that Mr Corbyn's stance on some policies such as austerity and Trident could make it easier for the SNP and Labour party to work together.

Speaking on the eve of the first anniversary of the Scottish independence referendum, he said: "There is now a much more compressed timescale in my opinion, the factors bearing down on that are the non-delivery of the vow, the austerity economics, Cameron's gambling with Scotland's European future, and the un-electability of a divided Labour party - these are things bringing the likelihood of a further referendum in to a much sharper timescale than I thought previously possible.

"As for the timing of that, that's a matter for Nicola Sturgeon my successor and of course the Scottish people because, of course, Nicola can put what she wants in her manifesto but the people of Scotland have to vote for it.

"Support for independence is rising further than the high-water mark of last year, that's not a tenable situation for a Prime Minister with one MP in Scotland."

But he added that the election of Mr Corbyn could make cooperation in Parliament "between key opposition parties easier".

"It will be easier to co-operate with Labour on a number of issues like, they won't abstain on the welfare bill again, to Trident coming up. I'm hoping we'll be able to cooperate on that.

"But it will make some issues harder like Europe, where he is much more ambivalent than his predecessors and we're heavily in favour.

"Jeremy Corbyn's problem is not so much the Tories or the deadwood press, his problem is the Labour party and the Labour party is now deeply divided. Divided parties can't win elections", he said.

Responding to Mr Salmond's suggestion that a second referendum could be on the way, a Downing Street spokesman said: "We had a referendum exactly a year ago. That was legal, it was fair and it was decisive.

"The people of Scotland voted decisively to remain part of the United Kingdom and the Edinburgh Agreement committed both governments to respecting that outcome.

"It's important now that everyone respects the Edinburgh Agreement that was committed to by both governments."

The spokesman said that at the time of the referendum "everyone talked about it as being a once-in-a-generation event".

And he added: "The Prime Minister's view now is that, rather than talking about separating, our eyes should really be fixed on delivering devolution and delivering the commitments we set out."

Mr Salmond's comments came as he released a book about the build-up and fall-out of the Yes campaign, The Dream Shall Never Die, with the support of many of his fellow 56 SNP MPs outside Parliament.

He took the opportunity to call on the Government to fully deliver on its promise of devolution to the Scottish Parliament, instead of offering a "watered down" version of the Smith Commission Report.

He said: "Everyone now accepts, with the exception of the complacent, arrogant Tory front bench, that the vow has not been delivered.

"It's now beyond argument. The Government has fallen down, has broken the promise and the vow they made to Scotland."

On Wednesday David Cameron labelled the SNP's complaints over devolution as "all bluster" after the SNP's Westminster leader Angus Robertson grilled him on the matter.

The Prime Minister urged Mr Robertson to outline welfare, tax and other areas where power has not been devolved in line with previous commitments.

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Mr Cameron told Mr Robertson: "You give me a list of the things that were promised and not delivered, then we can have a very reasonable conversation.

"Until then it is all bluster from the SNP."