If Scotland became independent after 2014, the British Museum would be presented with an "existential question", according to its director Nei

"Let's jump off that bridge when we get to it," said Neil MacGregor, director of the British Museum, when pressed on the putative future of the institution were Scotland to become independent.

The question was raised at a British Museum press conference today not by a journalist, but, intriguingly, by Gus O'Donnell, cabinet secretary under three prime ministers and once the most powerful civil servant in the land.

Even so – after pointing out that his would be one of dozens of "British" institutions that would have to rethink if the union dissolved – MacGregor conceded that there would be a huge "existential question" for the museum, which was founded by act of parliament in 1753, were the vote to swing in favour of independence next year.