Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of telling Scots a "whopper" when she said the general election is not about Scottish independence.

At First Minister's Questions on Thursday, Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson claimed the First Minister is treating people as "fools".

Davidson said the SNP leader was trying to "face both ways" and "promise all things to all people".

The First Minister told STV earlier this week: "This election is not deciding whether or not Scotland is independent."

On Wednesday, her predecessor Alex Salmond said Scots casting their ballots on June 8 "will know that they are voting to support the right of the parliament to decide on the holding of the Scottish referendum".

Sturgeon told MSPs the vote is "an opportunity to determine who chooses Scotland's future" and insisted that was "exactly the same" as Salmond's remarks.

Davidson also said there are apparent differences within the SNP on issues such as fishing and Scotland's place in Europe post-Brexit.

She said: "What we've got is that the SNP say they are in favour of joining the European Union, with the First Minister not confirming whether the SNP will back full membership in their manifesto.

"They say they are in favour of the Common Fisheries Policy, except for MPs in fishing communities who say they are against it.

"Then we have the real whopper - in Scotland we have Nicola Sturgeon saying the coming election hasn't anything to do whatsoever with independence but from the broadcast studios of London up pops Alex Salmond to confirm they want to use this election to demand a referendum that the rest of us don't want.

"So, the First Minister thinks on fishing, on EU membership and on independence she can face both ways and promise all things to all people."

Davidson added: "Isn't it the case that she is treating the electorate as fools?"

Sturgeon responded: "This election is an opportunity to determine who chooses Scotland's future, is it a Tory government at Westminster or is it this democratically-elected Scottish Parliament, exactly the same as Alex Salmond's comments yesterday afternoon."

She went on to accuse Davidson of being "all at sea" and "drowning" on the issue of fishing, claiming the Tories are "preparing to sell out Scottish fishermen" by granting other European countries access to UK waters as part of the Brexit negotiations.