The Government response to Brexit has been "one of the most shameful abdications of responsibility in modern political history", Nicola Sturgeon has said.
Scotland's First Minister slammed the Government and Leave politicians for having no plan for a UK vote to leave the European Union.
She said instead there had been an "absence of any leadership" and warned the UK was heading for a "hard rather than a soft Brexit" with "limited access" to the single market and restrictions on the freedom of movement.
She said attempts to make the UK competitive outside the EU could trigger a "race to the bottom" with serious consequences for workers' rights.
And she stressed that a second independence referendum for Scotland was still on the cards if the country's interests could not be protected in a "UK context".
Setting out her plans to secure Scotland's position in Europe, she said it had been the job of UK politicians "not to pretend somehow that we instantly had all the answers but to give a sense of direction, to try to create some order out of the chaos".
"That's what I was determined to do for Scotland and I assumed that UK politicians would do likewise," she said.
"It turned out I was wrong about that.
"In fact, the absence of any leadership and the lack of any advance planning both from the politicians who proposed the referendum and from those who campaigned a leave vote surely must count as one of the most shameful abdications of responsibility in modern political history."
Prime Minister Theresa May met Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon last week
Speaking at the conference of the Institute for Public Policy Research, she said that there would be five Brexit tests to determine whether there as a need for a second independence referendum.
They were "democracy, economic prosperity, social protection, solidarity and influence".
She said: "… I am equally clear about this - if we find that our interest can't be protected in a UK context, independence must be one of those options and Scotland must have the right to consider that option.
"That's why we will take the preparatory steps to make sure it is an option open to the Scottish Parliament if the Scottish Parliament considers it necessary."
Ms Sturgeon spoke as Theresa May visited Northern Ireland, where she said Brexit should not mean a "return to borders of the past".
The Prime Minister insisted she would work with Scotland and Northern Ireland, both of whom voted to Remain in the EU, to make a success of leaving the bloc.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker echoed Ms Sturgeon's words saying the UK had not been prepared for a leave vote.
He said there would be no deadline on the UK triggering Article 50, the official process for leaving the EU.
He said: "I would have liked the UK to present us with its resignation letter as soon as possible, because I would have expected that the British, especially those who wanted to leave the EU, would have prepared themselves for this possibility.
"Well, that wasn't the case. The British Government needs several months to fine tune its position. Our British friends know that there will be no negotiation before notification of their farewell letter."
He also insisted there would be no full access to the single market for the UK unless it accepted EU rules on freedom of movement.
There had been speculation over the weekend that Mrs May could be willing to consider a seven-year brake on freedom of movement in return for access to the single market.
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