Scotland could have avoided the financial crisis if it had been an independent country, according to the leader of the Yes Scotland campaign.
Blair Jenkins the chief executive of the campaign organisation talked about the strength of small economies during a webcast interview with BBC Scotland.
He said: "We might very well not have had the financial crisis had Scotland been independent."
He explained that Scotland was still "paying the price for negligence at a UK level" which has resulted in job losses and service cuts as well as other hardship measures.
Mr Jenkins added: "I think it's a key point that is not made often enough that all of us in Scotland, we are depending upon the UK government and the UK financial regulator to be doing their jobs and not to have allowed what did happen to happen.
"I think what all of us in Scotland were entitled to assume was that the UK government and the UK financial regulator were looking after our interests now it actually turns out they were asleep at the wheel."
The former TV news boss for the BBC and STV said small countries and small economies are the most successful.
He said: "When you look around the world it is very clear that the most successful economies in the world are small economies and that's becoming more and more true with the passing of time.
"Smaller countries and smaller economies are more nimble, they are able to adapt much more quickly, there's a greater coherence and unity of purpose
"If you look at the top 10 countries in the world and the top 10 economies in terms of GDP per head, they are small countries, many are smaller countries than Scotland."
