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Scotland should be forced to hand the ocean outcrop of Rockall over to England if it votes for independence, according to Tory peer Lord Caithness.

The United Kingdom formally annexed the rock, west of the Hebrides, to secure claims to untapped oil and gas reserves. But the Earl of Caithness says Scotland should not be allowed to keep the island and he wants an opt-out clause for oil-rich Orkney and Shetland in the independence vote.

Lord Caithness has made his claim in amendments to the Scotland Bill, which is going through Westminster and gives new tax powers to Holyrood.

And the earl said a ”yes” vote in a Scottish referendum should be followed by a referendum held throughout the entire UK.

In his amendment he said: ”A vote in a referendum which results in Scotland leaving the United Kingdom shall not be binding on the residents of the Orkney Islands or the Shetland Islands unless a majority of the residents of the Orkney Islands and the Shetland Islands who voted in such a referendum voted that Scotland should leave the United Kingdom.”

Orkney MSP Liam MacArthur said the intervention was ”unhelpful”.

SNP MSP Rob Gibson said: ”The days of earls and lords telling the Highlands and Islands how it’s going to be are well and truly over.”

Photo Andy Strangeway and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence