NICOLA Sturgeon has admitted there is still no date for a Holyrood Bill for a second independence referendum despite saying it January it was just “weeks” away.

“I haven't decided on the specific date for that right now,” the First Minister said, while maintaining that she was sticking to her plan to have Indyref2 next year.

Ms Sturgeon has said she wants a referendum by the end of 2023, Covid permitting, with Scotland then becoming independent in 2026.

However Boris Johnson has refused to grant Holyrood the power it needs to hold a legally watertight vote, creating a constitutional impasse.

Ms Sturgeon has said she will pass a Referendum Bill at Holyrood regardless, however that would require prior sign-off by the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain.

Any legislation would then almost certainly be challenged at the UK Supreme Court, where recent decisions suggest it would probably be struck down as legislatively incompetent.

The situation has led to growing frustration in the Yes movement, with more SNP MPs suggesting the next general election should be used as a de facto Indyref2.

Former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars also warned the SNP is woefully unprepared to answer key policy questions, such as currency, that would arise in any campaign.

The respected former SNP media boss and commentator Kevin Pringle recently conceded a new vote was “unlikely to take place” in 2023 “given the hurdles to be overcome and extensive preparations required”.

Against the backdrop of the cost-of-living crisis and war in Ukraine, the latest polls also show little public appetite for Indyref2 in the next two years.

However speaking to Scotland on Sunday, Ms Sturgeon said Mr Pringle was “wrong” and she would carry on as she originally intended, based on the SNP’s Holyrood win last year.

She said: “I've set out the timetable I'm working to. 

“Nothing has changed around that. Plans for that are underway, so nothing has changed.

“I won the mandate for that in an election this time last year."

“In politics, of course you look at opinion polls, but I won an election on this timetable and plan, so that's the plan I'm working to.

"I accept, I've always accepted that to win a referendum, which is actually the important thing, I've got to persuade a majority of people that independence is the right thing for Scotland. That's what I am planning to do."

In January, the First Minister told the BBC that her Referendum Bill was imminent.

She said: “The preparatory work for that is underway right now. We haven’t decided on the date that we would seek to introduce the Bill. We’ll decide that in the coming weeks.”

However she confirmed to Scotland on Sunday that there was still no date.

She merely said that Indyref2 legislation would be published "in due course", adding: "I haven't decided on the specific date for that right now.

"Plans are underway but I will confirm that when we have got to that point."

The Herald revealed last month that the Bill will not be published this side of the local elections on May 5.

The longer the Scottish Government waits, the less chance of hitting Ms Sturgeon's timetable given the many months required to pass legislation, test it in court, and wage a campaign.

Tory MSP Donald Cameron said: “It’s utterly reckless that Nicola Sturgeon is still intent on holding a vote to break up the UK next year despite a war taking place in Ukraine, our post-pandemic recovery and a cost-of-living crisis to focus on.

“It’s clear that the nationalist coalition’s overriding priority will always be independence.

“People across Scotland who are struggling with rising prices will rightly be angry that this SNP-Green coalition refuses to focus on the daily issues our country is facing in favour of another divisive referendum.

“Their self-serving obsession with breaking up the UK has to stop and the national interest must come first.”