Latvia, the country that would direct the EU response to Scottish independence in the event of a Yes vote, has invited the Scottish Government to send representatives to Riga to discuss their hopes for a smooth transition to EU membership.

Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said his Government was now "open for contacts, open for discussions" with Scottish representatives. While stressing that he regarded Scottish independence as an internal matter for the UK and Scotland to decide on, Mr Dombrovskis said he was instructing his Government's legal service to "look into in more detail" the possibility of Scottish secession.

Latvia will preside over the Council of the EU in the first half of 2015.

Mr Dombrovskis's intervention follows an earlier statement by Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkivics that Latvia would regard an independent Scotland as "a new country" applying to join the EU,

In contrast, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has insisted that, in the event of a Yes vote, the country would be seeking the agreement of other nations from a position of continued membership of the EU.

Mr Dombrovskis also gave the strongest hint to date that Latvia would expect an independent Scotland to adopt the euro, with "no optouts and no derogations" for any new member state.