SCOTS living outside Scotland should be able to register to vote in the independence referendum on the same basis as expatriate UK citizens can vote in UK elections, a Labour MSP has claimed.

Elaine Murray said Scots working outwith the country at the time of UK general elections are allowed to vote and asked why they should be banned from voting in "one of the most important decisions in Scotland in over 300 years".

She said it was "hugely unfair" when more young Scots were being forced to look elsewhere for jobs.

Under the current electoral rules, Scots living elsewhere do not have a vote in Scottish parliamentary elections unless they are on the electoral register.

However, expatriates who have been out of the country for up to 15 years can apply to vote in UK elections and Ms Murray believes the same option should be made available for the referendum.

Ms Murray, who made it clear she was not speaking on behalf of her party, raised the issue in a Holyrood Member's Debate after a petition from a former constituent James Wallace who now works in London.

She told MSPs he was a trainee with a global law firm and wanted to vote because "he feels so profoundly Scottish".

She said: "James is doing what generations of Scots have done – travelled for work or to gain training and experience.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime vote in which many Scots who are possibly temporarily living in other parts of the UK wish to be included as it could fundamentally change the nature of the country they may wish to return to."

Parliamentary Business Secretary Bruce Crawford said voting rights should be based on residency because it was practical and because it was "an internationally accepted principle".