Nicola Sturgeon has confirmed plans for a second referendum on Scottish independence are being put on hold - but added it is still "likely" there could be another ballot before 2021.
The First Minister told the Scottish Parliament she was going to "reset" the timetable she had previously set out, which could have seen a referendum take place between autumn 2018 and spring 2019.
She made clear that after Scotland voted to remain in the European Union, she wanted to give voters an alternative to Brexit when there is "clarity" at the end of the process.
Ms Sturgeon told STV News afterwards that Brexit was likely to "come to a conclusion" within the current Scottish parliamentary term.
She added: "That choice (independence referendum), I think that common sense tells you it is likely to be in this parliament."
Scottish Secretary David Mundell criticised the First Minister, saying: "Far from taking a second independence referendum off the table, as the people of Scotland called on her to do during the election, she has merely pushed her preferred timescale back by six months."
He branded Ms Sturgeon's statement "deeply disappointing" and said they were "the words of a First Minister who is not listening, who is out of touch and who - rather than serving Scotland - has become a prisoner of her independence-obsessed party.
"The longer she remains in denial, the longer she turns a deaf ear to what people in Scotland are telling her, the faster her credibility will drain away."
The SNP leader had been reflecting on plans for a second independence referendum in the wake of the general election, which saw the SNP's share of the vote fall from 50% in 2015 to 37% earlier this month.
She told MSPs many people "feel it is just too soon right now to make a decision about the precise timing of a referendum" but wish to have a say when there is clarity on Brexit.
She added: "I am therefore confirming today that having listened and reflected, the Scottish Government will reset the plan I set out on March 13.
"We will not seek to introduce the legislation for an independence referendum immediately, instead we will in good faith redouble our efforts and put our shoulder to the wheel in seeking to influence the Brexit talks in a way that protects Scotland's interests."
The Scottish Government will also work to build "maximum support" for the proposals it set out at the end of 2016 - which argued for both the UK and Scotland to remain part of the European single market with "substantial new powers" for Holyrood.
Plans for a referendum will not be revisited until at least autumn next year, when she will set out her view on the way forward, including "the precise timescale for offering people a choice over the country's future".
The First Minister said: "It remains my view, and indeed the position of this government, that at the end of the Brexit process, the people of Scotland should have a choice about our future direction as a country.
"Indeed, the implications of Brexit are so potentially far-reaching that as they become clearer, I think people will increasingly demand that choice."
Unionist leaders said the First Minister had not gone far enough.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson called on Ms Sturgeon to "give the country some certainty" by taking the Referendum Bill off the table for the rest of this parliament.
She said: "Yes voters and No voters, most people simply don't want this brought back any time soon and none of the questions - none of the questions - that are raised by Brexit are answered by ripping Scotland out of our own union of nations, our biggest market and our closest friends."
Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale said: "The First Minister is digging her heels in, putting her fingers in her ears and pressing on regardless. She is just not listening."
Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said "absolutely nothing has changed" in Ms Sturgeon's approach.
"If she wants to prove she has listened, the First Minister should trigger a vote in this chamber which would rule out another independence referendum in this parliamentary term," he said.
However, the Scottish Greens urged the First Minister not to retreat from her referendum timetable.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "We have always been clear that now is not the time for a second independence referendum and that remains our position. We won't be entering into any negotiations about that.
"We have been clear for a very long time that devolved administrations should be fully engaged in the Brexit process and we have a Joint Ministerial Committee process where ministers can do that, and they do."