THE LibDems have been accused of being pro-Brexit as a Scottish MP claims a Yes vote for Scottish independence would be "three times the cost" of Brexit.

Writing in Scotland on Sunday today, LibDem MP Alistair Carmichael accused the SNP of not learning from the mistakes of Brexit by citing a London School of Economics (LSE) report that ignored many important factors to conclude that Scotland would be worse off after voting Yes.

The report, titled "Disunited Kingdom? Brexit, Trade and Scottish Independence", was published by the LSE's Centre for Economic Performance earlier this week which admits to ignoring "potentially important economic effects of Scottish independence".

READ MORE: Would independence hit the Scottish economy harder than Brexit?

Carmichael, the MP for Orkney and Shetland, said the SNP had "fallen silent" once the report was released and added: “Just like the Brexiteers in 2016, the SNP want people to ignore the experts and triple down on destroying businesses with trade costs.”

Carmichael then went on to claim that Scottish independence would be "three times the cost" of Brexit and accused the SNP of "rubbishing" expert analysis by criticising the LSE report.

The LibDem spokesperson for home affairs wrote: “SNP leaders cannot claim with a straight face that this Brexit trade disruption is bad but three times as much from independence would be good.

“We have a choice – between learning from the mistakes of Brexit division, or jumping on the SNP bus and tripling down on those mistakes.”

The National: SNP shadow international trade secretary Drew Hendry MPSNP shadow international trade secretary Drew Hendry MP

Drew Hendry MP, the SNP’s shadow international trade secretary accused the Lib Dems of being “pro-Brexit”.

Citing things an independent Scotland would do differently from the UK, Hendry said: “The fact is that the authors themselves stressed that their analysis covered only the impact of trading costs but excluded post-independence economic or fiscal issues and other important factors - including taxes, inward investment or migration. It bases its findings on an independent Scotland not using our powers to change a single policy – or that we would accept the damage caused by the Tories' hard Brexit – and that we would sit on our hands and act as though nothing has changed.

“As an independent member of the EU, free from the damage of Brexit, Scotland would be part of the huge Single Market which is seven times the size of the UK.

“While it may be the case that Alistair Carmichael and the LibDems have delivered a trademark U-turn and joined the Tories and Labour in becoming pro-Brexit parties and embraced the damage it is causing, it is clear beyond any doubt that the only way to protect Scotland's interests is to become an independent country and to rejoin the EU."

The National: Finance Secretary Kate Forbes pointed out that an independent Scotland will take a very different approach than the UK did with BrexitFinance Secretary Kate Forbes pointed out that an independent Scotland will take a very different approach than the UK did with Brexit

The Scottish Government's Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes, noted after the release of the report that an independent Scotland would have a much different economic outlook than that of Brexit Britain. 

She told a special online meeting of Ayr constituency SNP branches on Wednesday: "The study takes no account of population growth and the need to attract immigrants rather than pull up the drawbridge as the UK Government is doing. It takes no account of inward investment and no account of other economic levers that we could have control over."

READ MORE: Kate Forbes slams LSE report on Scottish independence which ‘ignores growth’

Forbes added that these reports are "dependent on lots of assumptions" and that an independent Scotland would take a different approach than the UK took with Brexit.

She said: "We don’t want to be independent because we don’t like our nearest neighbours. We just think we can do a better job at managing our own affairs if powers are closer to the people.”