The First Minister's call for a second independence referendum cost the SNP "a lot of votes", an SNP MSP has claimed.

Former health minister Alex Neil was the only elected SNP politician to publicly back leaving the European Union and has been critical of the Nationalist's leadership in recent months.

The SNP lost 21 seats across Scotland on Thursday's and its share of the vote fell by 13.1% compared to the last general election two years ago.

Writing in the Sunday Times, Neil said: "Our demand for indyref2 was way ahead of its time and should only have been pursued once it was clear a majority of Scots actually want independence.

"Jumping too far ahead of public opinion on this issue cost us a lot of votes on Thursday."

The Airdrie and Shotts MSP also pointed to Jeremy Corbyn's leadership as another factor in the swing away from the Nationalists to pro-union parties.

"Many independence supporters who had previously supported the SNo switched their allegiance to Corbyn's Labour Party costing us votes and seats," he said.

When asked to respond to Neil's comments an SNP spokesman pointed STV News to the First Minister's comments on the morning after the election.

Sturgeon said her plans for a second referendum was "undoubtedly" a factor in the loss of support and she pledged to "reflect" and "listen" to Scots about what to do next.