Nicola Sturgeon has responded to Boris Johnson's refusal to permit a second independence referendum, stating the Tories are “terrified” of another vote on the issue.

The Prime Minister sent a letter to Ms Sturgeon today refusing her request for powers to hold a vote.

Ms Sturgeon it was the response she anticipated.

She said: “The Tories are terrified of Scotland having the right to choose our own future. They know that given the choice the overwhelming likelihood is that people will choose the positive option of independence.”

She added: “While today’s response is not surprising – indeed we anticipated it – it will not stand.”

She said that the refusal will increase people’s determination for Scotland to decide whether it wants to remain in the UK or become independence.

The First Minister added: “It is not politically sustainable for any Westminster government to stand in the way of the right of the people of Scotland to decide their own future and to seek to block the clear democratic mandate for an independence referendum.”

She added: “The longer they try to block a referendum, the more they demonstrate that the Westminster union is not a partnership of equals and the more support for independence will grow.

“In short, as well as being unsustainable, the position set out today by the UK government is also an entirely self-defeating one.”

The First Minister said that the Scottish Government would set out its official response later this month and would ask the Scottish Parliament to endorse it and added that “One thing, though, is clear – the people of Scotland will get the right to decide our own future in an independence referendum.”