The UK Government's adviser on Scots law has raised concerns that independence will create uncertainty during negotiations on key issues such as currency.
Lord Wallace, Advocate General for Scotland, gave his view on SNP policy before a speech to the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Aberdeen.
"Their preferred option, so it would seem, is to have a formal currency union with the rest of the UK, and that must involve negotiation," he said.
"And if there is a lesson from the current eurozone crisis it is that far from fiscal autonomy, a formal currency union requires more political and fiscal integration, not less.
"The contrast couldn't be more stark: a Yes vote for uncertainty pending negotiations with little or no guarantee of greater fiscal autonomy, pain for doubtful gain; or a No vote and the certainty we shall continue with the remarkably successful political and monetary union we've enjoyed for the last 300 years."
Lord Wallace, a Liberal Democrat peer, said the Scottish Government's position inevitably means there will be negotiations on issues such as currency and EU membership.
"That uncertainty, bad in itself for business, inconveniently gets in the way of the rosy picture they like to paint of an independent land flowing with milk and honey," he said.
Both issues, particularly EU membership, have dominated political debate at Holyrood in recent weeks.
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