Nicola Sturgeon has not made a formal request to the UK Government to hold an independence referendum since winning the Scottish election last year.
The First Minister launched a new drive for a breakaway vote last week.
She has said the referendum should take place in October next year if legal approval to stage it can be secured.
But the UK Government confirmed the Scottish Government has not lodged a request for a Section 30 Order, which would transfer the required powers.
The legal mechanism was negotiated between Alex Salmond and David Cameron in 2012 – two years before the 2014 referendum.
A source said: “The last time a request was submitted was in 2019. There has been nothing since the 2021 Scottish Parliament election and nothing since the First Minister’s press conference.”
When the Sunday Mail asked the Scottish Government why it had not yet sought an order, a spokesman refused to answer and instead directed us to a video of a press conference.
Sturgeon has accused opposition parties of “running scared” of the facts on independence.
The Scottish Government published a paper on Tuesday comparing the UK with countries which the FM claimed
are “wealthier, fairer and happier”.
She said: “The Tories and Labour have completely failed to engage with that point because they know it is true and because they can see how threadbare the case for continued Westminster rule over Scotland has become.
“They simply have no answer, so instead of engaging in that debate they prefer to engage in the politics of deflection, talking about issues of process when on the issues of substance the sands are shifting beneath their feet.
“The people of Scotland have secured a cast-iron democratic mandate to decide their own future – and neither Boris Johnson nor any other UK PM has the right to block that mandate.”
In her press conference, Sturgeon said she stood ready “to discuss the terms of” a Section 30 at any time with Johnson. But she didn’t address the fact no formal request for one had been made since 2019.
The UK Government said: “Now is not the time to be talking about another referendum.
People across Scotland rightly want and expect to see both of their governments working together with a relentless focus on the issues that matter to them, their families and communities.
“That means tackling the cost of living, protecting our energy security, leading the response against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing our economy.”
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