Mr Rumbles highlights the government's losses on fracking, the HIE board, the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act, health services and the Scottish Funding Council.

He says the first minister cannot ignore these votes and demand the prime minister respect tonight's vote.

The Lib Dem MSP says: The first minister may have the votes in this chamber tonight but she has failed to take the people of Scotland with her."

He concludes saying: "The people say no."

Image source, bbc

Lib Dem MSP Mike Rumbles says this debate has shown that, unlike the last time, the first minister does not have the country with her.

He says Ms Sturgeon is more interested in running a campaign to secede from the UK rather than running the country. 

The Lib Dem MSP says she has ignored the will of parliament five times since last summer. 

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Conservative MSP Edward Mountain says the first minister should "get on with the day job with diligence drive and devotion".

The former soldier adds: "As a former sergeant major used to say, by sharing the pain, you share the gain. Scotland benefits from being part of the United Kingdom. We are better together."

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Labour MSP Pauline McNeill says a choice is only fair if people have a clear idea what the prospects are and on what the prospects of an independent Scotland are predicated on.

Ms McNeill says: "It is not a fair choice to put to the Scottish people."

She says the question to the people must be on an independent Scotland in Europe and in the last few days it has become clear that is not on offer.

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SNP MSP Tom Arthur says he believes the people of Scotland to be sovereign and the Scottish Conservatives' amendment is the only one which aims to remove this right.

He says: "The UK government's intransigence toward's Scotland's aspirations should be deeply troubling to any democrat."

The timetable set out in the Scottish government motion is predicated by the UK government's and EU's Brexit negotiator's timetable, he says. 

Any attempt at delay will be seen as cynical says Mr Arthur.

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Tory MSP Jackson Carlaw says Nicola Sturgeon's gambit of two weeks ago has been met with the loudest raspberry from all corners of Scotland.

Mr Carlaw says the call for indyref2 is the "greatest collapsed political soufflé of our times".

He says the SNP have respected the judgement of neither of the referendums that have taken place.

Image source, AFP/Getty

Fancy a flutter? Here were the odds last week

Most bookmakers responded to Ms Sturgeon's announcement by making an independence vote the odds-on favourite result of the next referendum.

Ladbrokes had Yes to independence at 8/11, with a No vote at 11/10, while William Hill also had No at 11/10 and Yes at 4/6 - with Coral offering the exact same odds.Paddy Power had a pro-independence vote at 1/2, with odds of 6/4 on there being a vote in favour of remaining in the UK.

However, Paddy Power had 2020 or later as the clear favourite in terms of when the vote is held, with odds of 4/7, while the last three months of 2018 is at 7/1.

After Mrs May's announcement, Paddy Power cut odds of a referendum in 2020 or later to evens, while they put the odds of a pro-independence vote at 4/7.

Image source, bbc

SNP MSP Clare Haughey says: "How can anyone in the chamber deny the people of Scotland their say and call themselves democratic?"

She says the SNP was elected on a clear commitment to give the people of Scotland a choice if there was a material change of circumstances. 

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Labour MSP Johann Lamont says the first minister has spoken twice in this debate but there has been no debate in government time on education since last October.

Ms Lamont says: "We have redefined what a generation means and we now have redefined what top priority means.

"The SNP should be honest - they just want another referendum and if it was not this it would be something else."

Ms Lamont says the SNP have equally compelling mandates on education, health and the economy but these have been put on ice. "It seems that some mandates are more of a priority than others."

She then tells the first minister "get on with the day job".

SNP MSP Stuart McMillan, like many other MSPs, begins by expressing condolences to those affected by last week's Westminster terrorist attack.

Mr McMillan says the people of Scotland are sovereign and the people of Scotland have the right to choose their future.

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Mr McMillan says the prime minister does not tell the Scottish government Article 50 will be triggered this week and then the SNP are castigated for standing up their selves and are accused of the politics of grievance.

Two important questions arise from Nicola Sturgeon's announcement that she will seek a second independence referendum.

First, do voters in Scotland want a second referendum? And second, how might they vote if an independence referendum were to be held any time soon?

During recent months, a number of polls have asked people in a variety of different ways whether there should be a second independence referendum within the next couple of years.

They have all obtained much the same answer. Around a half say there should not be, while between a third and two-fifths say there should.

• Indyref2: Your questions answered
• Read more here

Image source, afp

Image source, bbc

Conservative MSP Liam Kerr says today's vote is not a mandate for action.

Mr Kerr says if votes in this place mandated action, the Scottish government would be revising plans to scrap the HIE board, revoking the Offensive Behaviour at Football Act and revising plans on the Scottish Funding Council.

He says Alex Salmond said this was a once in a generation opportunity before the independence referendum in 2014 and the definition of a generation in the Oxford English Dictionary is 30 years.