The 2014 independence referendum was "a very positive experience", the First Minister claimed on Tuesday evening.

Nicola Sturgeon used a speech at the Political Studies Association annual conference to contrast the standard of debate between the independence referendum and last year's vote on European Union membership.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said the First Minister is "living in dreamland".

The SNP leader says the Scottish Government put together a "detailed proposal" on independence for voters to judge and scrutinise.

Opponents criticised the 2014 white paper on independence, with many pointing to the predicted oil and gas revenues of as much as £7.9bn in the proposed first year of independence.

During the predicated period the North Sea industry produced just £100m of revenues after the global oil price plunged.

Last month, two financial experts said parts of the spending plans in the document were "uncosted".

The First Minister said: "It's maybe worth comparing the 2014 referendum on independence with the 2016 referendum on EU membership.

"A key difference was that in 2014, the Scottish Government set out a detailed proposal for how Scotland would become independent.

"That plan was then scrutinised, analysed - and often criticised - by political opponents, by the media, by business groups and wider civic society, and of course by academics."

She continued: "In 2016, on the other hand, people were asked to vote for a change without being told what that change involved.

"Nobody who wanted to leave the European Union had any responsibility for setting out how it might be achieved.

"Many issues - for example the difference between single market membership, customs union membership and World Trade Organisation rules - are only being discussed widely now, when they should have been at the heart of public discussion before the vote."

Sturgeon added: "The second point I want to make relates to the tone of the debate. By and large, and on the whole, I think that the 2014 referendum was a very positive experience for Scotland.

"However, one consequence of a referendum is that it requires a binary choice - a yes or a no - from people who have nuanced or even conflicting views about something which matters deeply to them."

The First Minister went on to insist that if an independent Scotland was in the EU, Scots would not be swapping Westminster rule for control from Brussels.

She said the EU "at its heart it is a coming together of independent countries...to address challenges or seize opportunities in the modern world that few countries can do alone".

She stated: "I've never believed and have never accepted, because I think it defies logic, that Scotland being a member of the EU somehow would undermine its independence as a country.

"You don't go to France or Germany and hear them say they are anything other than independent countries, although they are members of the EU. So being independent in Europe is not, and never has been in my view a contradiction in terms."

Opponents of independence criticised the First Minister's remarks on the 2014 referendum.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said: "Families and communities across Scotland are still damaged by the division of the last independence referendum.

"The First Minister is living in dreamland if she thinks another one would be positive for Scotland.

Conservative chief whip John Lamont said: "The last thing Scotland needs right now is a divisive and unwarranted referendum.

"Instead it needs a Scottish Government that gets on with the job it was elected to do, such as addressing the many problems facing our schools, hospitals and the economy."

Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said the 2014 poll "divided families, workplaces and communities" and "while for some it was an exciting exercise in democracy, for many more it was a divisive experience never to be repeated".