MPs have been warned that an independent Scotland would be acutely vulnerable to economic "shocks".
An independent briefing note by the House of Commons library has told politicians Scotland would be "particularly exposed" to forces outside its control if it left the UK.
It is the second such warning, after a previous note in November said Scotland could be forced to pay billions if it wanted to remain part of the EU.
Labour last night said it highlighted the "huge risk" that the Scottish Government was taking with people's finances.
The note warns that "as a small and open economy, Scotland would be particularly exposed to exogenous shocks i.e. shocks that are caused by factors outside of its control".
These could include significant changes in global energy prices, because of the major proportion of the economy linked to oil and gas.
It adds that the impact of these shocks could be positive as well as negative, depending on which way the markets moved.
Ken Macintosh, Scottish Labour's finance spokesman, said: "This report highlights the huge risk that Alex Salmond is wishing to play with people's lives by taking us down to the road of separation."
SNP Treasury spokesman Stewart Hosie MP said: "Eight of the top ten wealthiest countries in the developed world in terms of GPD per head are small countries – and an independent Scotland would be the sixth-wealthiest, compared to the UK's 16th place."
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