The SNP plans for a referendum in Scotland are not about independence but instead only about separation, MPs have been told.
Launching an Opposition Day debate in the Commons, Eleanor Laing, Tory MP for Epping Forest, said Scotland was already independent within the union, with its own institutions and legal system.
And she insisted "nothing would change" after the referendum in 2014, which is being organised by the SNP Government in Holyrood following an agreement with Westminster.
Ms Laing said: "Scotland is a nation, Scotland is independent. Scotland holds its future in its own hands. This debate is not about nationalism, it's not about independence, it's about separation and that is the word we should be using.
"It is not about pride in your country, not about whether Scotland can survive on her own - of course Scotland can survive on her own, Scotland is a strong and capable country. That is not what this is about."
The motion, backed by Tory, Labour and Lid Dem MPs, calls for Scots to back the union in the 2014 referendum.
An SNP amendment says that, as well as a continued relationship with the rest of the UK, after independence Scotland would have enduring relationships with nations around the world.
