Former Europe minister Peter Hain has warned that Spain could block an independent Scotland's membership of the European Union.

Mr Hain said that Spain's Government would be bitterly opposed to the move, for fear it would bolster demands for separation in Catalonia and the Basque Country.

The Herald revealed last week that UK ministers had been briefed to reassure their Spanish counterparts that the referendum on Scottish independence was not a threat to "Spanish territorial integrity."

Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo was also forced to deny that his country had expressed "disquiet" about the Scottish independence.

Speaking in London, Mr Hain said he believed tensions in Spain could trigger a move to wreck Scotland's EU membership.

"Scotland, of course, can be independent if it wants to," he said. "Personally, I think it will be weaker, it won't have as much influence in the world, and it might not get back into the EU because I suspect the Spanish will veto it."

He went on: "Spain has real problems with the Basque country and Catalonia, and I think they would be opposed to granting EU membership and would veto it for a part of a country which had seceded."