A veteran SNP politician claimed there is "growing despair" in party ranks over Nicola Sturgeon’s groundwork for a new independence campaign - days after she announced her latest move.
In a sign of discontent within the party over the Alex Salmond affair, Kenny MacAskill described preparations for an Indyref2 campaign as "moribund".
The former Justice Secretary, who is now the MP for East Lothian, said the lack of preparation was "not just negligent but criminal".
The criticisms came in the same week as Sturgeon announced she would publish a draft Referendum Bill before next year's Holyrood election setting out her timetable and question for a referendum.
But in a scathing online article, Salmond ally MacAskill said the leadership appeared happy with the "self-satisfied parroting of opinion poll results".
He said: "As the SNP vote has increased and support for independence likewise, the case for it hasn't been getting built in equal proportions.
"Even flagrant sins would be pardoned by some if progress was being made toward the Holy Grail. But instead, it's been moribundity that's prevailed with a leadership doing little if anything to progress it."
MacAskill added: "Underpinning all the discontent has been a growing despair at the failure of SNP HQ to prepare for Indyref2."
In a swipe at the leadership's "hatchet job" to exclude Salmond ally Joanna Cherry MP from selection for the Scottish Parliament, MacAskill said: "Rather than stitching up selection ballots, members were rightly expecting preparations were begun to achieve and win Indyref2.
"Polls are favourable and the British state is in turmoil under an incompetent administration. But no one underestimates the scale of the challenge that remains or the onslaught that will be launched in the future. That's why there’s underlying anger and frustration."
In the same Scottish Left Review, former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars warned the Yes movement not to believe the polls showing 55 per cent support for independence.
Although they had "seriously damaged" Unionist morale, they did not "reflect reality in the surreal world that Covid-19 has created", he said.
On Tuesday, Sturgeon said: "Before the end of this Parliament, we will publish a draft Bill, setting out the proposed terms and timing of an independence referendum, as well as the proposed question that people will be asked in that referendum.
"And then at next year's election, we will make the case for Scotland to become an independent country, and seek a clear endorsement of Scotland's right to choose our own future."
