if Scotland votes yes, what happens next

Well the first thing we can be certain of is that the Scottish Nationalist will have a big party over the whole weekend to celebrate the historic decision but when Monday morning comes what happens .

Firstly the time table for Scottish independence is far too long and will have a serious economic impact possibly pushing the whole country including Scotland back into recession. Surely the most sensible situation would be for Scottish independence to coincide with the start of the 2015 financial year.

Scotland would need to create a central bank and a currency which I assume will be called the Scottish pound and arrange for sufficient to be printed so that they can arrange to exchange British currency for Scottish currency at the banks. I would also expect the currency to start at equal value and then the currency markets to decide their relative values.

The Scottish passport office would need to start creating Scottish passports to replace the British passport that people travelling currently use. A decision on whether to share embassies with Scottish and British sections or to have separate buildings will have to be made.

The armed forces would need to ensure that all Scottish servicemen were in areas that were going to Scotland and that non Scottish servicemen moved the other way. In terms of the infantry equipment, air force and navy Scotland’s share will need to be calculated and sent to Scotland.

In terms of national assets and debts they will need to be shared out and the simplest way would be on a population basis but if such an agreement cannot be reached then arbitration will need to be used.

The easiest way to set the first year taxation and benefit levels would be to use the levels set at Westminster but in subsequent years as a sovereign country it would obviously set and collect its own revenue and have its own benefits system.

Those companies that wished to relocate either into Scotland or out of Scotland could then issue their 90 day redundancy notices and have time to either relocate or employ new staff at their new centres.

Scotland could apply immediately to become a member of the European Union and seek any opt outs that Britain has got that it wishes to continue with.

Divorce is never easy but a quick clean break would be the best way.