A ROW has broken out at a Scottish university after three senior academics e-mailed colleagues about the dangers of a Yes vote.

The message - sent to staff from Edinburgh University's College of Science and Engineering and the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine - suggested independence could damage research funding.

It was signed by Professor Robin Allshire, from the Institute of Cell Biology, his colleague Professor Susan Rosser and Professor Andrew Millar, from the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology.

While the Scottish ­Government is the largest single source of university research funding, with £330m allocated in 2012/13, the second largest contribution is the £240m in competitively awarded grants from the UK Research Councils.

The letter stated: "There is now legitimate concern among our research ­community that full independence will reduce the funding pot available to the University of Edinburgh, especially over the next five years and beyond."

The letter said that, in the longer term, it was unclear how much an independent Scottish Government could prioritise research funding relative to other competing interests.

Dr Stephen Watson, chairman of the pro-independence group Academics for Yes, refuted the suggestions - and called on Edinburgh University authorities to allow a counter message to be sent to all staff.

He said: "This was a political piece aimed at persuading colleagues to vote "No" in this week's independence referendum and, while an open debate should be encouraged, this seems to us to be an inappropriate way to achieve this end.