A FORMER deputy leader of the SNP has said he is “in despair” about the state of the independence movement because it is so unprepared and unwilling to confront difficult truths.

Jim Sillars told an audience at the Edinburgh Fringe that if were the next Tory Prime Minister he would grant a second referendum because the Yes side would lose.

He also accused the SNP of “ruining the lives of children” with inadequate education, and likened the Yes movement’s refusal to admit it to the warped thinking of the Soviet Union.

Mr Sillars made his comments while appearing in conversation with the former Labour MSP Neil Findlay at the Stand New Town Theatre today.

Nicola Sturgeon has said that if the Supreme Court rules Holyrood can stage Indyref2 under its existing powers it will be on 19 October 2023.

If the Court forbids it, the First Minister has said she will fight the next general election as a "de facto referendum" on independence instead.

So far, only two introductory sections of a multi-part prospectus for independence have been published by the Scottish Government.

A deputy to Alex Salmond in the 1990s and an advocate of independence for around four decades, he was asked about the current state of the fight to end the Union.

He said: “I’m in despair. If I were Truss of Sunak I would give us a referendum and we’d lose it because there’s no work been done on what’s now required for independence. But that's not going to happen.”

He went on: “The constitution, however important it is, isn’t the be all and end all every day of the week. Take education. We are 5million people in an 8billion world where powers lies in the Asian Pacific. 

“We have to earn our living in that world, and that’s going to be a very difficult task.

“The greatest resource we have is our people. And if we don't educate our people, and level up everybody to the highest possible standard, then the future Scots will not be able to earn their living in the world in the way that would need to do.

“So education is fundamental. The latest literacy results for Primary 7 in the deprived areas is about 57 per cent, and in the good areas it’s 80%. This is a disaster for the future. 

“And whether you're for or against independence doesn't really matter, because we have total control of education, the way we have total control of the National Health Service.”

Asked if the constitutional divide was allowing politicians “to get off the hook” for governing badly, Mr Sillars said: “Yes. In the independence movement the mantra is Wheesht for indy.

“‘Oh no, they’re doing well, don’t say they’re not doing well, that’s bad but don’t say that’s bad, because all that matters is we keep them there [the SNP in power] because they’re the instrument to get us independence.’

“In the meantime, we’re ruining the lives of children, we’re ruining the lives of families. Do they not count? It’s almost like back in the Soviet Union where the end justifies the means.

“And if you are unfortunately the means, hard luck pal. I can’t agree with that.”

Like around a third of SNP supporters, Mr Sillars voted for Brexit in 2016, and explained he had done so because he regarded the European Union as “profoundly undemocratic”.

Nicola Sturgeon has previously said a Yes vote for independence would automatically lead to an independent Scotland rejoining the EU, but the SNP is now looking again at this.

Mr Sillars said: “Let’s assume there was a referendum and she said to us, there’s a double mandate required for this Yes vote, Yes to independence and Yes to  immediate application to rejoin the European Union. 

“What do I do? I'm against the European Union for very sound democratic reasons. I can’t vote for that. This is the stupidest policy I’ve ever heard. 

“A million of us voted for Brexit [in Scotland]. The alternative is becoming a member of the European Free Trade Association [currently Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein and Switzerland].”