A research team at think tank NIESR has recommended some out of the box thinking for an independent Scotland to deal with what would be mountainous fiscal imbalances.

An oil for debt swap – where the oil revenues would pass over to the UK in exchange for a large write down of the debt that Scotland would otherwise assume – would greatly reduce the economic risks of independence, although there may be significant political limitations to this possibility.

NIESR's research notes that an independent Scotland would have to face inheritance of a quantity of public debt that may act as a large fiscal tightening on the region's economy.