RUTH Davidson is terrified of the case for Scottish independence being heard, the First Minister has said.

Davidson accused the Scottish Government of neglecting issues such as education in favour of independence, as she revived a tired Unionist line at First Minister’s Questions.

It comes amid the imminent publication of the Sustainable Growth Commission report setting out an economic prospectus for Scotland after a Yes vote.

Davidson said: “Tomorrow, the First Minister is going to launch yet another blueprint into independence, dragging this country back to the debates of the past.

“She has repeatedly claimed that education is her number one priority, and so it should be. But the facts show differently.

“With her, it is independence first, and everything else a long way behind – and the country is asking, why won’t she give it a rest?”

Nicola Sturgeon hit back at the Scottish Tory leader, who had given a speech at a Policy Exchange event in London on The Union and Unionism earlier this week.

She replied: “Wasn’t it ironic that the ‘give it a rest line’ was first used this week by Ruth Davidson on Monday, when she boldly said we should give it a rest on talking about the constitution.

“Where did she say this? At a conference in London where she was talking about the constitution.

"Some people might say that is a tad hypocritical of Ruth Davidson, I of course couldn't possibly comment.

“The truth about Ruth Davidson is that she loves nothing more than talking about the constitution – she just doesn’t want the case for independence to get a hearing.

“Well I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to disappoint her on that front.

“I know positivity and ambition doesn’t sit well with – as Ruth Davidson called them this week – the dour, joyless, authoritarian Tories.

“I know they don’t like positivity and ambition, but this Government does, and we’re going to continue to be ambitious for Scotland.”

Davidson had initially asked Sturgeon to say what she thought the most important issue facing Scotland was.

The First Minister had answered that it was improving the economy, with the Tory MSP responding that in her case it was education.

Accused of neglecting other issues at the expense of independence, Sturgeon added: “This government is investing £120 million in the pupil equity fund, with teachers enthusiastically welcoming that; continuing to improve health services with the best performing A&E services anywhere in the UK for 3 years now; protecting the vulnerable from Tory cuts; and continuing to stand up for Scotland against Tory Brexit ideology.”

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard used a similar line of attack, saying the First Minister was “putting the SNP before the NHS”.

More than 54,000 people waited longer than the health service's 12-week treatment-time guarantee last year, he claimed.

Leonard said: “As we’ve just heard, the long-delayed SNP Growth Commission report is published tomorrow.

“That might excite the backbenches of the SNP, but it will exasperate the millions of people right across Scotland who just want the First Minister focused on public services like our National Health Service.”

Following up, he added: “In 2012, the SNP gave patients the right to treatment within 12 weeks.

"In Nicola Sturgeon's first year that promise was broken to one patient in every twenty. Last year it was broken to one patient in every five.

“This is the fifth time in sixth weeks that I’ve raised the NHS with the First Minister. There are serious problems right across the health service.

"That's what the people of Scotland want the government to be focused on. Not another referendum, not more division. When will the First Minister finally realise that the people want her to put the SNP before the NHS?"

The First Minister used her response to point to record patient satisfaction, and pledged to continue to support the NHS.

Sturgeon said: “The Scottish Government will remain focused on improving our NHS each and every single day – that is why in Scotland our emergency services perform better than they do in any other part of the UK.

"It’s why so many of the other services provided by the NHS are better than they are in any other part of the UK, including in the only part of the UK where Labour is in government, in Wales.

“We’re putting record amounts of investment into the NHS, we’re employing record numbers of people, the NHS is seeing more patients every year, and will continue to deliver its services and have the record high patient satisfaction that our NHS currently does.

“That of course is testament to everybody who works in our NHS, and we will continue to support them every single day.”

The Sustainable Growth Commission report will provide a serious of recommendations on how Scotland could thrive as an independent nation outside the UK.

It will take as a working assumption that the first year of independence is 2021-22, as an “illustrative” time-scale.

The document, Scotland: The New Case for Optimism, is 354-pages long, and analyses the world’s 12 best performing small economies.