THE 2015 General Election could be thrown into chaos if there is a Yes vote with the possibility of an emergency law being passed to stop the candidates for Scotland's 59 seats, including many sitting MPs, from taking part.
The prospect has been raised by international law expert Professor Alan Boyle from Edinburgh University in evidence to the House of Lords Constitution Committee. He poses an alternative that MPs would be elected from Scotland's 59 Westminster constituencies but would have to stand down if Scotland became independent; at present, earmarked for March 24 2016.
Any Yes vote would, it is believed, transform the next General Election as Scottish voters would be voting not so much with a view as to which MP and party could best represent their constituency but which MP and party could get the best deal from the UK Government for an independent Scotland.
The impact of a Yes vote would be severe for Labour, which has 41 out of 59 MPs, but also for the Liberal Democrats, 11 of whose 57 MPs come from Scotland.
If the election goes ahead as planned and Scottish MPs - after a Yes vote - vacated their seats in 2016, it could shift the balance of power at Westminster and bring down a new UK Government less than a year after it had been elected, Mr Boyle said.
"As regards the parliamentary impact in 2015/20, this is probably not a question for a lawyer to answer but at the very least there is an obvious risk of a near-permanent Conservative majority in the House of Commons once Scottish MPs leave," he said.
"If Scottish MPs remained in place until 2016 or later, there is a risk that removing them would deprive a Labour government elected in 2015 of its majority."
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