A SENIOR Whitehall source said ruefully: “The pantomime continues.” He was talking about the ongoing constitutional drama on this side of the English Channel rather than the one unfolding on the other.

Amid all of the political to-ing and fro-ing of late between London and Edinburgh, Theresa May delivered her long-expected, albeit terse, rejection of Nicola Sturgeon’s demand for another crack at Scottish independence in a Glasgow hotel during the now-notorious Legs-it! session. The brevity of the exchange only underlined the Prime Minister’s confidence that she is “on the side of the Scottish people”.

Private polling for the UK Government has confirmed public surveys: a large majority of Scots simply do not want another referendum during the forthcoming Brexit turbulence.

As expected, the Scottish Parliament voted to mandate the First Minister to call for a Section 30 Order from Mrs May. Ms Sturgeon insisted it would be “democratically indefensible” for her to refuse it.

In the Commons, Angus Robertson, the SNP leader at Westminster, added more political heat, warning the Prime Minister that, if she continued with her intransigence on a second referendum, Scottish independence would become “inevitable”.

As he delivered his warning, one could almost hear Whitehall responding with a pantomime cry: “Oh no it wouldn’t.” David Mundell, the Scottish Secretary, popped up to suggest that not only would the UK Government not talk about another referendum until the Brexit deal is done but also that it would not do so until the Brexit “process” was over.

So, there will be no second independence poll this side of 2020. Indeed: who knows how long the Brexit “process” will take? Donald Tusk, the European Council president, has made clear talks on Britain’s future trade relationship with the EU can only begin when “significant progress” has been made on withdrawal; it will be up to Brussels to determine when that is.

Next week, MEPs, who have to back any UK-EU deal, will debate the issue and talk about a possible three-year transition period. This would take the “process” to 2022, by which time we would have had a tranche of elections across the continent and who knows where any of us will be. Ms Sturgeon’s window of opportunity could have closed. Amid the constitutional heat, UK ministers appear relaxed as they know Mrs May holds the power over granting a second referendum. The lady is not for turning any time soon.

There may be pro-independence petitions, demonstrations, rallies and even marches on London but Mrs May will not budge on her “precious, precious Union”. Only if the Brexit talks collapse in an acrimonious heap without a deal will she face the prospect of having to relent in the near future on a second referendum.

This prospect means she is under even more pressure to emerge from 2019, or when the “process” ends, with a great deal which, she hopes, would bolster the arguments for the Union. Ironically, the SNP Government’s threat to break up Britain over Brexit could in the end, if the PM successfully emerges from the EU process, be the thing that actually saves it; a very big if.