Nicola Sturgeon will demand power to hold indyref 2 within days of general election result

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon joins Alyn Smith, the SNP's candidate for Stirling, on the general election campaign trail

Nicola Sturgeon has said she will demand the power to have another Scottish independence referendum within days of the election result, and believes Jeremy Corbyn would agree to hold one.

At an election rally in Leith, Ms Sturgeon was asked whether she believed Labour would grant a Section 30 order to allow another Scottish independence referendum. The First Minister answered emphatically: “Yes.”

Explaining her confidence, Ms Sturgeon said: “I’m a believer in the power of democracy.”

Although Ms Sturgeon revealed she had not spoken about independence with the Labour leader, she added: “The discussions I’ve had with Jeremy Corbyn over recent months have been understandably about Brexit and the tactics in the House of Commons.

“I met with him last week – that was the most recent occasion – and that was about Brexit and the prospects, as they were then, of an election.

“I don’t think Jeremy Corbyn is under any illusions, though, about my position around independence and a referendum.”

She added that she would send a letter before Christmas to whoever was in 10 Downing Street requesting powers under Section 30 of the Scotland Act 1998 to grant the Scottish Parliament powers to hold another independence referendum.

Ms Sturgeon warned of a future where “you’ll have Nigel Farage and Donald Trump pulling Boris Johnson’s strings,” following the US President’s comments that Mr Johnson and the Brexit Party leader working together would be “unstoppable”.

She added: “A Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson coalition would be scary. I know Halloween was yesterday, but it’s the kind of Halloween monster that no one in Scotland wants to see.

“But whether there’s a formal deal between Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage or not, everybody knows that the Tory Party is currently morphing into the Brexit Party.

“That’s the future unless Scotland positively and actively chooses an alternative, votes to escape the Brexit horror show and instead puts our future into our own hands.”