Writing for the Guardian this morning, John Palmer rubbishes President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso's claims that it would be "difficult if not impossible" for an independent Scotland to negotiate continuing membership of the European Union.

Barroso's statement is flatly contradicted by experts including Professor Graham Avery of Oxford University, honorary director general of the European Commission, and Yves Gounin, French Minister of European Affairs until 2012, who said that Europe would have "everything to lose" if it excluded newly independent states such as Scotland. Even the Spanish Foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo has stated that Spain will not attempt to block Scotland's membership of the EU.

Some points to consider:

Scotland is already a member country of the EU as part of the United Kingdom, and has been for 40 years.

Scotland already complies with the necessary EU treaties.

There is no mechanism for ejecting an existing member of the EU. Greenland and Algeria had to negotiate to LEAVE the EU when they seceded from Denmark and France respectively.

If Scotland votes No, it may find itself dragged out of the EU by Westminster parties attempting to woo the growing number of UKIP voters. The current co-alition government wants to hold a referendum on exiting the EU in 2017.

Barroso's interview with Andrew Marr on the BBC comes after freedom of information requests showing that Westminster has been using British embassies to lobby against Scottish independence around the world, and a university study showing a significant anti-independence bias on the BBC.

The European Commission has offered to clarify its postion on Scotland's continuing membership of the EU once and for all if asked by the UK government. Westminster refuses to do so.