Nicola Sturgeon accused of tricking voters with dodgy dossier
NICOLA STURGEON was yesterday accused of trying to trick Scottish voters ahead of the general election with a “dodgy economic dossier”.
Labour claimed the First Minister’s demands for Holyrood to take control of all tax and spending were based on “fiddled figures”.
It would mean Scotland no longer gets an annual grant from Westminster, calculated through the Barnett formula, and lead to a £7.6billion black hole in finances.
The Scottish Government recently produced reports suggesting that greater economic control would allow them to boost growth and eventually raise £3.5billion in revenues.
But Labour claimed ministers had effectively double counted by including the Barnett cash in its plans for fiscal autonomy – despite the fact this would be scrapped.
It has urged the UK statistics watchdog to investigate a “significant breach” of its code before May’s poll.
Ms Sturgeon was also accused of misleading the public on the issue during her weekly question session at Holyrood yesterday.
Labour deputy leader Kezia Dugdale said: “The SNP’s economic credibility is in tatters.
"We have an economic paper torn to shreds by the experts, a general election plan based on fiddled figures and oil numbers Nicola Sturgeon is hiding from the Scottish people.
"It’s clear that when the numbers don’t add up, the First Minister just makes them up.”
The SNP’s economic credibility is in tatters
But Ms Sturgeon branded the claims “desperate stuff from a dying Scottish Labour Party” and insisted she was not counting on the “continuation” of Barnett.
The SNP leader said: “I know Labour’s position is that they think the best way to protect Scotland’s public finances is to continue to allow Westminster governments, including Tory governments, to run those finances.”
Labour finance spokeswoman Jackie Baillie insisted that the SNP’s “proposal for full fiscal autonomy is falling apart”.
Ms Baillie has written to Sir Andrew Dilnot, head of the UK Statistics Authority, to complain about the Scottish Government’s economic analysis.
She said: “This SNP Government has created a dodgy economic dossier to hoodwink voters before the general election.
"We think essentially the First Minister, whether knowingly or otherwise, has absolutely misled Parliament, because the assumption that Barnett remains is just not on.”
Asked why the papers had assumed benefits without excluding Barnett a spokesman for the First Minister said the cash “fluctuates from year to year”.
He added: “As the First Minister made clear, the modelling is not predicated on Barnett.
"It’s essentially neutral modelling which shows the benefits of full revenue retention and the additional revenues that would flow as a result of having powers that would come with full fiscal autonomy.”
