The SNP leader revealed on Sunday that she will ask Downing Street for a Section 30 order “over the next matter of weeks” as she pushes ahead with plans to hold another independence referendum in 2020. The Referendums (Scotland) Bill, which makes provision for such a vote, was produced by the Scottish Government in May. But Ms Sturgeon was confronted on key issues independence would create on the border between Scotland and England. Sky News host Kay Burley grilled the First Minister: “If Scotland was an independent country from England and Wales, what would that mean about that pesky border?

“We’ve seen the problems that have been created in Northern Ireland and potentially a border in the Irish Sea.

“A lot of Scottish businesses rely on a frictionless border for their trade, of which the vast majority is with the rest of the United Kingdom.

“Of whatever flavour, there would have to be some sort of border if you become an independent country.”

The First Minister replied: “I don’t favour borders, I don’t accept the inevitability of that.

Of whatever flavour, there would have to be some sort of border if you become an independent country

Kay Burley

“There is nothing in my proposals that will make a border between Scotland and England inevitable.

“And I would work hard to make sure we get the arrangements in place to avoid that.

“Trade between Scotland and the rest of the UK is important, trade between the UK and Scotland is important.

“But we should also have the opportunity to continue to trade in the single market.”

She added: “Now, in terms of setting the details of how to secure that, we’ve got to know what the final relationship is going to be between the EU and the UK.”

Speaking on Sunday, the First Minister said she did not want to see a new frontier.

But she did not dismiss the prospect of border controls and checks in the event of a breakaway Scotland rejoining the EU while England was out.

Her remarks on the opening day of the SNP’s conference in Aberdeen contradict previous claims that a hard border would not be necessary in the wake of a ‘Scexit’ vote.

With Scotland trading more than three-and-a-half times as much with the UK than with the EU, opponents said the U-turn showed the SNP in its true light after years of refusing to acknowledge the risks of different regulatory regimes.

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Acting Scottish Tory leader Jackson Carlaw said: “Nicola Sturgeon’s acceptance that Scottish independence will most likely lead to a border with England is a dramatic shift.

“Up until now, the Nationalists have refused to accept this as even a possibility but they are fooling no one.

“Sturgeon must now continue to be honest and admit separation from the UK would lead to extreme austerity, hard borders with England and damage to public services.”

Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie added: “The mask has slipped. For Nicola Sturgeon, any price is worth paying to break up the UK, even dividing friends and family with a hard border.”

Ms Sturgeon also yesterday warned Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn not to “bother picking up the phone” to ask her to help put him in government unless he backs an independence vote.

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