SCOTTISH SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon ruled out a second independence referendum without permission from Downing Street today — but her deputy suggested it was a possibility.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt stated that the Tory government in Westminster will not grant permission for a public vote.

He spoke out after it emerged that SNP deputy leader Keith Brown told a gathering of separatist activists last month that the SNP should not “be willing to anticipate a refusal of a Section 30 order as a reason not to call a referendum.”