LEGISLATION transferring new tax and welfare powers to Holyrood could pave the way for independence, a former adviser to Better Together has admitted.

Professor Jim Gallagher said the Scotland Bill carried risks for both sides in last year's referendum battle.

In a lecture at Glasgow University, he argued it could also dampen support for independence by giving Scotland the degree of autonomy most Scots want.

Professor Gallagher, who has called for the Scotland Bill's welfare powers to be strengthened, said Scotland had been split down the middle by the "deeply divisive" referendum and called for both sides to show "constitutional generosity" in order to heal the rift.

Discussing the Scotland Bill, due to be passed early next year, he told an audience of academics: "A constitutional settlement for Scotland which enables the country to run quite a different social model from the rest of the UK while still sharing important risks acknowledges many of the key demands of the independence movement.

"Both sides of the argument however are taking a risk.

"Supporters of the UK have to accept that increasing difference might simply make independence more popular and easier in a generation’s time. "Supporters of independence have to accept the risk that Scotland will indeed want to rest with an arrangement which gives it the best of both worlds."

Professor Gallagher urged Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister, to resist calls from within the SNP for an early rerun of last year's vote, warning that "leading a deeply divided country into independence would be a recipe for disaster".

Drawing parallels with Ireland, he said the politics of an independent Scotland would be dominated by decades to come by divisions between those who backed and those who opposed the move.

"When Nicola Sturgeon says she wants to be sure of winning before holding a referendum, I hope she is not just playing tactics," he said.

"I hope she means holding a referendum if and only if it will gain an overwhelming majority, because division and independence would be a poisonous combination.

"The question the Nationalists have to ask themselves is - if they are unwilling to accept 55 per cent for No, why would anyone else feel the need to accept 55 per cent for Yes?"

Calling for the two sides to show "mutual respect," he added: "It's about acknowledging that in the long run the opposing view might become the settled position of the Scottish people."

Professor Gallagher was speaking at an event organised by Glasgow University's Policy Scotland think tank.