Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Swinney: Scottish independence means no to austerity

Finance Secretary John Swinney
Finance Secretary John Swinney

Finance Secretary John Swinney has claimed public spending would be maintained in an independent Scotland.

He said the Scottish Government would provide a “credible and sustainable alternative to the current UK Government’s fiscal strategy”.

The SNP minister claimed a “yes” vote on September 18 would allow Scotland to set different priorities for public spending.

Based on current forecasts, the Scottish Government wants to provide £1.2billion of additional investment in the economy in 2017-18 and £2.4billion more in 2018-19.

But Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Gavin Brown said the strategy amounted to the SNP trying to “borrow its way out a deficit”.

And Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael claimed the SNP was advocating “flat earth economics” and peddling “utter nonsense” to voters.

The Scottish Government says its balance sheet is forecast to “broadly match” the UK’s in the first year of independence, with public sector debt falling as a share of gross domestic product (GDP).

Mr Swinney said the fiscal position would allow an independent government to support employment, deliver its overhaul of childcare and address inequalities.

He said the approach would still be sustainable as it would ensure that public sector debt continued to fall as a share of GDP, and would remain consistent with any “reasonable requirements” of a sterling monetary union.

Dismissing the claims, Mr Brown said: “It’s starting to get worrying how regularly and casually the Scottish Government says it is going to borrow a billion here, a billion there, in the event of independence.”

Mr Carmichael claimed not one independent organisation thinks that Scotland’s public finances would be ‘broadly in line with the rest of the UK’.

“The Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that the starting deficit will be nearly £1,000 per head higher,” he added.

“With only 80 days to the referendum the Scottish Government has no currency plan and no idea what the set up costs of independence would be.

“What they have instead is an imaginary fiscal bonanza that complies with a money zone that would not exist.”