Westminster blocking a second independence referendum is "inconceivable", the First Minister has said.

Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland was in a situation of possibly leaving the European Union because of the UK Government's actions and therefore it simply could not stop the country from pursuing independence.

The First Minister made her comments in an interview with BBC Radio Four.

Sturgeon said: "Scotland is in a position just now we didn't ask to be in.

"We have been put into this position by, largely, the Conservative Party and if as a result of that there is a view in the Scottish Parliament that the best way to protect our interests is to offer the choice of independence again, the idea that the same party that put us into that position would then deny us that choice I just find inconceivable."

On Thursday, the SNP leader told her party's conference she would publish a draft Referendum Bill for public consultation next week.

Sturgeon has continued to state the possibility of the referendum taking place is "highly likely" following the referendum on Britain's membership of the EU.

The 2014 independence referendum went ahead following the UK Government temporarily devolving the power to hold a legally binding referendum to Holyrood through the Edinburgh Agreement between the two parties.

The document said the 2014 referendum would deliver "a result that everyone will respect".

When asked by STV News on Thursday if a second Edinburgh Agreement was required for a future independence referendum, the First Minister's spokesman said "we are not in that space just now".

He added the Scottish Government would be taking the process "one stage at a time".

At a briefing to journalists in Westminster on Thursday, the Prime Minister's spokeswoman said the issue "had been addressed in 2014" and the first "referendum was decisive, legal and fair and all parts of the UK should accept that".

In an interview with STV News at the Conservative conference in Birmingham last week, Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson said the UK Government should not block an independence referendum in principle.

Davidson argued the SNP would like to see London veto a referendum as it would possibly lead to a rise in support for independence. The Tory leader cited Catalonia as an example of this happening.

She told STV News: "In terms of the UK Government's approach [to a second independence referendum], I've said that I don't think there should be a blanket refusal.

"I think you saw in Spain the Spanish government say that to Catalonian independence campaigners and actually support for Catalan independence went through the roof - you had the million man march in Barcelona and stuff.

"I think by even the most generous reckoning the pro-independence marches before the referendum in 2014 hit about 10,000, maybe even 5000 by Police Scotland's figures, so a million is quite a lot more than that and Catalonia is about the same size population wise to Scotland."