NICOLA Sturgeon has been urged by one of her predecessors to make a direct request to the European Union for a Scottish-only extension to the current transition period in order to protect the country from dealing with a No-Deal Brexit while fighting the coronavirus pandemic and an economic recession.

AT 11pm tonight, Scotland will cease to be part of the EU after almost half a century. That is a moment of profound sadness for me, and for countless others across Scotland, and indeed the rest of the UK.