The UK Government will not seek any "associate membership" of the EU signalling an exit from the single market ahead of negotiations with Brussels, the Prime Minister will say later on Tuesday.

In a major speech outlining Downing Street's position on leaving the EU at Lancaster House in London, the Prime Minister will signal her intention to wholly leave the organisation ensuring there is no "half-in, half-out" status for the UK.

No associate membership with the EU will mean the country will leave the single market. May's opponents have labelled such an arrangement a hard Brexit.

The Scottish Government has set out proposals to Downing Street to keep Scotland inside the single market even if the rest of the UK leaves the trading bloc.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has warned May a second independence referendum could follow.

While a majority of the UK voted to leave the EU in June, the majority of voters in Scotland backed staying in the organisation.

The Prime Minister describes her plan as a vision for a "global Britain".

May will say: "Our vote to leave the European Union was no rejection of the values we share. The decision to leave the EU represents no desire to become more distant to you, our friends and neighbours.

"We will continue to be reliable partners, willing allies and close friends. We want to buy your goods, sell you ours, trade with you as freely as possible and work with one another to make sure we are all safer, more secure and more prosperous through continued friendship."

The Prime Minister will go on to say: "We seek a new and equal partnership between an independent, self-governing, global Britain and our friends and allies in the EU.

"Not partial membership of the European Union, associate membership of the European Union, or anything that leaves us half-in, half-out.

"We do not seek to adopt a model already enjoyed by other countries. We do not seek to hold on to bits of membership as we leave.

"The United Kingdom is leaving the European Union. My job is to get the right deal for Britain as we do."

Once out of the EU Customs Union, the UK will be able to enter into trade deals with other nations.

Individual EU states are prohibited from making their own trade deals, only the EU as a whole can enter them.

The then-Prime Minister David Cameron warned voters days before the referendum that a Leave vote would be a vote "to leave the EU and leave the single market."

The Scottish Government's Brexit minister Michael Russell warned the Prime Minister ahead of her speech not to "ride roughshod over the clearly expressed views of the people of Scotland".

MSPs will debate Scotland's interests in the Brexit negations later on Tuesday.

Speaking ahead of the debate and May's speech, Russell said: "The threat of a Tory hard Brexit, taking us out of a single market eight times bigger than the UK's alone, is getting bigger by the day.

"Given that threat, today's debate at Holyrood is an important opportunity for our national parliament to make sure Westminster gets the message that Scotland is firmly opposed to such a Tory hard Brexit and its disastrous economic consequences, which are underlined by the fact the pound has been plummeting on the international markets, hitting its lowest level in more than three months.

"The Tories now seem to think they can they can do what they want and Scotland will simply accept it - and if they get away with dragging us out of the EU and single market then they will think they can get away with anything."

The Prime Minister has pledged to trigger article 50, the legal mechanism of leaving the EU, before the end of March.

Judges at the Supreme Court are currently deliberating if May can trigger the country's exit without first getting parliament's approval. A judgment is expected later this month.