Nicola Sturgeon has raised the possibility of delaying her decision on another independence referendum.
The First Minister has repeatedly said she will make a call on whether to issue a fresh Indyref2 demand once the terms of Brexit are clear, which is due in the autumn.
Ms Sturgeon cast doubt on getting the clarity she requires from Theresa May in that time frame during a television interview on Sunday.
“I become more and more doubtful that by the autumn of this year we are going to be any further forward to knowing what the future relationship is than we are at the moment,” she told Peston on Sunday.
A retreat from an Indyref2 decision this year would dismay grassroots campaigners desperate to see a breakaway vote in the short term to capitalise on anti-Brexit sentiment.
The SNP leader has already backed down on an independence referendum after her party lost 480,000 votes in last year’s general election.
Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, said Ms Sturgeon has neither the mandate nor the public’s support for another referendum.
She told Sunday Politics Scotland: “We know that Nicola Sturgeon always wants one but she has got this high wire act with her own party about when she thinks she can call one.”
Meanwhile, Ms Sturgeon said she is hopeful agreement can be reached between the UK and Scottish governments amid the row over returning powers from Brussels.
“At the moment the UK Government’s proposition is that even in areas of devolved competence – agriculture, the environment, fishing, justice – they should be able to impose frameworks on Scotland and Wales,” she said.
“Our position is that in devolved areas it should only be by the consent of the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.”
The row escalated when the Scottish Government introduced rival Brexit legislation, which has faced questions over its legality.
David Lidington, who is Theresa May’s unofficial deputy, said Westminster would only get involved in devolved areas if a “pause” is needed to make UK-wide frameworks to protect the British common market and international rules.