Nicola Sturgeon has claimed she “underestimated” how polarised political debate in Scotland has become.

The former first minister also admitted her career has not “unfolded exactly as I anticipated” in the months since she quit Bute House.

In a rare intervention since stepping back from frontline politics, Sturgeon used a newspaper column to support Scottish Government plans for jury-less trials for those accused of rape.

The proposal has been met with uproar from many figures involved in Scots law, who view it as undermining a key pillar of the country’s justice system.

“But I had come to feel that the duration of my time in the trenches of frontline politics was making it harder for me to broker the common ground necessary to advance difficult or controversial policy changes.

“It is now almost two months since I left office and while that period hasn’t unfolded exactly as I anticipated – for reasons I won’t go into here – it has given me a different perspective.

“The benefits of the rear-view mirror are considerable. On the issue of polarisation, I think that, if anything, I underestimated the depth of the problem.”

She added: “The reaction to the proposed pilot of judge-only rape trials in Scotland, part of a package of measures to improve access to justice for victims of this appalling crime, is a case in point.”

The former SNP leader did not directly reference in her column the investigation into SNP finances which has rocked Scottish politics.

Want to see more SNP fails? – Health Matters