The British Home Secretary Theresa May warned on Friday that an independent Scotland would have to earn trust before intelligence on terrorism and organised crime would be shared by other countries.
After independence, it could not expect to exchange intelligence with Westminister as currently takes place, she explained.
Criticising the Scottish National Party's plans for its own secret service, May said that they were poorly budgeted and based on "assumptions".
Speaking at the Foreign Affairs Committee at Westminster yesterday, May said:
“At the moment, across the UK services, we have relationships with other countries and those have been built up over the years,”
“The SNP make a lot of assumptions in a lot of areas and are trying to tell people nothing would change but there is a whole range of issues that would need to be looked at and decided upon... I think people would question very seriously the SNP if they don’t come up with firm proposals on issues like this. Keeping people safe and secure is on of the fundamental responsibilities of the government.”
May also drew attention to the fact that independence would result in an 'international border' between Scotland and England, asking the SNP to state whether it would opt in or out of Schengen - the European Union's free-movement treaty. The UK has opted out of Schengen.
