Nicola Sturgeon has said she could be willing to push back a second independence referendum to early 2019, but insisted it must take place before Brexit.

Speaking after the SNP conference in Aberdeen, the First Minister said she was willing to enter into discussions with Theresa May.

Earlier in the week, the Prime Minister had rejected the SNP leader's call for another vote on independence, saying "now is not the time."

In an interview with the Peston on Sunday programme, Sturgeon said any vote should take place before Scotland leaves the EU.

A vote is expected in the Scottish Parliament on a Section 30 order, the legislative instrument which would allow Holyrood to organise an independence referendum.

She said: "I set out the time frame in which I think it would be fair and reasonable... she said she does not agree with that timescale.

"I think it is for her then to say what time scale she thinks would be appropriate and I'm happy to have that discussion within reason."

The First Minister suggested that she might be willing to put back a vote until around Spring 2019 after conversations with Downing Street to reach a compromise had taken place.

Host Robert Peston suggested that the UK government would bee keen to put back any fresh independence vote until 2021, but Sturgeon that that length of delay would be unacceptable.

She said: "I don't think that is reasonable because by that point Scotland has been taken out of the EU, two years have elapsed.

"Presumably there is divergence opening up between the rules of the European Union and the single market and where the UK is going.

"I think it then gets much harder for Scotland to seek a different course."

During a speech at Bute House on Monday, the First Minister said the earliest time for her proposed vote could be the autum of 2018, and the latest the spring of 2019.

She told Robert Peston: "I think if [Theresa May] is talking in the spring of 2019, a bit later perhaps than I was suggesting, then there may be some room for discussion around that.

"But it seems to be fundamentally unfair for a UK Government, having sunk the ship with Brexit try to puncture Scotland's lifeboat as well."

Sturgeon said she took the Prime Minister "at her word" regarding the timetable for the UK's exit from the EU.

Appearing on the BBC's Andrew Marr show on Sunday, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson said the majority of Scots do not want another independence referendum.

She highlighted an opinion poll in the Sunday Times which found 56% of Scots would vote to remain in the UK if another ballot was held.

The Panelbase survey of more than 1000 people north of the border was carried out after the First Minister's announcement on Monday.

Davidson said: "I don't think you can have an independence referendum again if you don't have public consent for it, and the people of Scotland don't want this.

"We see another poll today, to add to the many dozen that we've seen since June of last year, that show that the majority of people in Scotland don't want this."