Suspected criminals could be able to escape justice more easily after independence by crossing the border into England, a report is expected to suggest today.
Home Secretary Theresa May will launch the latest Whitehall analysis of the potential consequences of Scottish independence in Edinburgh.
The paper will concentrate on the implications for security and is expected to warn independence would make it more difficult to arrest a suspected offender who had fled to another part of the UK.
"The European Arrest warrant is not the same as the right of arrest within the same country", a Downing Street source said.
The report is also expected to warn the UK could be prevented from sharing intelligence obtained from other countries with an independent Scotland.
At the weekend a St Andrews University academic warned that Scotland's national security could be jeopardised by leaving the UK.
Professor Richard English, director of the Centre For The Study Of Terrorism And Political Violence, said that if there was a Yes vote crucial relationships between the security services and police forces north and south of the border would have to be "established anew".
The SNP has called on Mrs May to use her visit to distance herself from "scaremongering claims" by Prime Minister David Cameron that an independent Scotland would be at greater risk of terrorist.
MSP Sandra White, who sits on the Scottish Parliament Justice Committee, said: "This is a key test for the Westminster Government and the scaremongering approach to the referendum that has served them so poorly."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article