NICOLA Sturgeon has sought to dampen speculation about an early rerun of last year's independence referendum, saying it would be "wrong" to hold a fresh poll without a significant shift in public opinion.

The First Minister used her opening speech at the SNP conference in Aberdeen to stress that even a UK-wide decision to leave the EU, against the wishes of Scots, would only trigger a second independence referendum if it were accompanied by a surge in support for a Yes vote.

She said any decision to hold a second referendum would be based on "respect and democracy".

Going to the country without evidence of a major change in public opinion would "not be respecting the decision that people made" last year, she added.

More than 3,500 delegates gathered at the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre on the first day of the party's biggest ever conference.

They included many new members who joined after the referendum and who are keen to fight another campaign within the next few years.

But Ms Sturgeon focused on the next Holyrood election, now seven months away.

Speaking beneath a clock counting down the 202 days to the poll, she told supporters the SNP's manifesto commitments on jobs, health and education would matter "just as much" as setting out possible scenarios for a second independence referendum.

Also looking ahead to the election, she launched her fiercest attack yet on Labour under the new leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

Having initially welcomed Mr Corbyn's opposition to the Conservatives' austerity programme and plans to renew Britain's nuclear deterrent, she dismissed Labour as "divided and in disarray".

"There is much that I hoped the SNP and Jeremy Corbyn could work together on," she told delegates.
"But over these last few weeks, it has become glaringly obvious that he is unable to unite his party on any of the big issues of the day.

"Labour is unreliable, unelectable and unable to stand up to the Tories."

The prospect of a second independence had threatened to overshadow the conference but party bosses have kept the the issue off the agenda.

A fringe meeting on the possible timing of a second vote, staged by the Law Society of Scotland, has been cancelled and Ms Sturgeon will only make passing reference to a second referendum in her keynote conference address on Saturday, her spokesman said.

Since the referendum, she has outlined a number of possible scenarios that could trigger a second referendum, including the forthcoming In/Out vote on Britain's EU membership, expected in the autumn of next year.

Addressing the conference, she said a second referendum "may well' follow if the UK as whole voted 'Out' while a majority of Scots voted 'In'.

In a message to David Cameron, she said: "Last year you told the Scottish people that the only way to protect our EU membership was to vote No.

"If you try to take Scotland out of the EU against our democratic wishes, you will be breaching the terms of last year's vote.

"And, in those circumstances, you may well find that the demand for a second referendum is unstoppable."

Her spokesman said later: "Nicola will be campaigning hard for Scotland and the UK to remain in the EU so, despite her support for independence, she will be campaigning for that scenario not to happen."
Turning to the election, Ms Sturgeon said she wanted to win support from people who voted No to independence.

She also revealed plans to invest £3billion in building 50,000 affordable homes over five years if the SNP is returned to power, a move that met with criticism from opposition politicians.

Former SNP leader Gordon Wilson, who criticised the party's approach to the referendum, said: "I support Nicola Sturgeon’s decision to stop the debate over the timing of the next referendum.

"Given the lack of a clear-cut majority for independence, it is a waste of time talking about when there will be a second effort."