Joanna Cherry said Nicola Sturgeon had left behind “some major policy headaches”, including around her gender reforms, the NHS and education. She said: “On our raison d'etre, I think Nicola will be remembered for reversing the vehicle of independence up a blind alley, and then leaving it without a driver.”

Ms Cherry made the comments during an online event on Tuesday hosted by the think-tank Reform Scotland on the future of the SNP and independence.

The MP for Edinburgh South West has been a frequent critic of Ms Sturgeon’s leadership, including over her gender reform legislation, which has since been blocked by the UK Government.

Ms Sturgeon announced her resignation last week. Three candidates – health secretary Humza Yousaf, finance secretary Kate Forbes and former minister Ash Regan – are vying to replace her as party leader and first minister.

Ms Cherry said she did not support fighting the next general election as a de-facto referendum, as Ms Sturgeon had advocated. She said: “The next Westminster election is going to be about whether or not people want a Labour Government, and the SNP needs to wake up to the fact that we’re going to lose seats if we don’t get our act together.

"A lot of our supporters are natural Labour voters. They are going to look at our failure to deliver independence, and our failure to have any meaningful plans for it or vision, and they’re going to say ‘yeah, I’d much rather have a Labour Government for the next five years, thank you very much, as me and my family will be better off under that’.”

Ms Cherry said the SNP should be discussing “alternative routes to independence”, but insisted the “bottom line” was that unless the UK Government could be brought to the negotiating table, these will not be recognised internationally.

She said Ms Sturgeon was a great campaigner and communicator, who was “very good at mastering a brief” and also “very good at redistributing wealth”.

"But I think she’s left behind her some major policy headaches for her successor, although I’m very much of the view that those headaches are not for one person – they must be approached by a more team-based and collegiate approach in the party,” Ms Cherry said.

"Those headaches include the Gender Recognition Reform Bill, although I really hope that the leadership campaign is going to get off identity politics and on to the big issues soon. But they do include that.

"They include the educational attainment gap, problems in the NHS, the inadequate proposals to deal with the social care crisis, an energy policy that’s not been properly thought through, the deposit return scheme – I’m blue in the face listening to businesses in my constituency telling me what a disaster it is, from the small to the large – the ferries fiasco, the failure to dual the A9. You could go on and on.”

Ms Cherry said there needed to be a “major reset”.

She said: “It will be very hard to fill Nicola’s shoes. She is an amazing politician. But she’s left our party with a headache on our main reason for existence and many policy headaches, and it’s not going to be an easy task for the new first minister and the new Cabinet she or he appoints.”

Elsewhere, Stewart McDonald, the MP for Glasgow South who is seen as loyal to Ms Sturgeon, said the Scottish Government had “lost its mojo recently, it’s fair to say”.

SNP leadership race: SNP will lose seats if it does not 'get its act together', warns party MP Joanna Cherry

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