IN the end, it was not so much ‘next steps’ as running on the spot.

Nicola Sturgeon’s long-awaited plan for a second independence referendum was, as the facts demanded, an anti-climax.

She may have claimed just last month that a vote for the SNP was a vote for Indyref2 this year, but that was never in the First Minister’s gift.

She knew fine well then, and has now belatedly admitted, that UK Government consent is needed for Scots to revisit the No vote of 2014.

The First Minister looked strained as she delivered her climbdown, as well she might. After giving them false hope by talking up an independence win in 2020, she has disappointed a lot of people on her own side, and they are not happy about it.

Wings over Scotland, the influential pro-independence website, swiftly called her ‘The Betrayer’ and called for a new SNP leader.

The gist of it was that Ms Sturgeon keeps cranking the handle yet nothing comes out. Therefore she - not the cause - is the problem, and needs to go by the spring.

Expect more unease to bubble up.

Instead of the exciting campaign the Yes movement wants, Ms Sturgeon extolled the duller virtues of caution, patience and realism.

There will be no wildcat referendum, regardless of legality.

And nor will there be any attempt - for now - to get a legal ruling on whether a consultative referendum can be held with Holyrood’s existing powers, thus bypassing Westminster.

Ms Sturgeon didn’t rule out a legal route, but had little enthusiasm for it.

“It could move us forward - but equally it could set us back,” she said.

Her official spokesman later said it was “not something she’s seeking to do anytime soon”. So instead there will be more talk and more process.

MSPs, MPs and council leaders will be asked to endorse a “modern claim of right” through a new constitutional convention, going back over well-trodden ground.

The Electoral Commission will re-test the 2014 referendum question for suitability on the off-chance the scales fall from Boris Johnson’s eyes.

The Scottish Government will publish new papers on independence - but, tellingly, not a White Paper for every home - in another attempt to convert No voters to the cause.

To keep the party membership busy, the SNP will double its campaigning budget this year, with lots of new bumpf to hand out aimed at undecided voters.

It may be tough, and it may take time, but don’t give up, independence will surely come, was the overall message, as it has been for decades.

“For me to pretend that there are shortcuts of clever wheezes that can magically overcome the obstacles we face would be to do the independence cause a disservice,” Ms Sturgeon said.

“To achieve independence, a referendum, whenever it happens - whether it is this year as I want, or after the next Scottish election - must be legal and legitimate.”

This is breathtaking cheek.

If there was anyone going about the country stirring up the impression that there was a clever wheeze to deliver Indyref2 in 2020, it was the First Minister.

Time and again she was asked what she would do when the Prime Minister said No to her demand for a Section 30 order, and time and again she would give a knowing smile and say she had a plan but it was too soon to share it. She would do that if the time came.

Only this month, SNP Brexit Secretary Mike Russell claimed the Scottish Government had “many options” to deliver Indyref2, it just didn’t “want to go into them”.

“As we move forward, they will all become clear,” he said coyly.

Well now the time has come, and it’s quite clear there is no new plan, only the same old plan - hoping the hard grind of campaigning will be rewarded.

It is a position that risks angering her own side over lack of progress, while still giving her opponents enough ammo to say she remains obsessed about the constitution at the expense of failing public services.

It is a tough sell all round as she heads towards an election year.

Perhaps, after the 2021 Holyrood poll, and despite there being nothing in it for him, Mr Johnson will help out and suddenly concede Indyref2.

But for now, Ms Sturgeon and her increasingly fractious party are back to pushing the same boulder uphill.