SNP ministers 'misleading public'

Feb 3 2012

The Scottish Government has been accused of staging a "misinformation campaign" on the impact independence or devo-max would have on the country's finances.

Public finance expert Professor Arthur Midwinter said some statements from SNP ministers are "seriously misleading the public".

He has now called for the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), an independent fiscal watchdog created by the UK Government, to have a role in the auditing of financial information in the run-up to the independence referendum.

In an article for the Scotsman newspaper, Prof Midwinter, a former adviser to Holyrood's Finance Committee, wrote: "I would like to see a role for the Office of Budget Responsibility in auditing the presentation of financial information, assumptions and arguments in the referendum process." Prof Midwinter argued that the "prevalence of 'spin' in government papers" was "a practice that has increased under the SNP administration".

A Scottish Government spokesman said its Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland statistics were produced by statisticians and are "entirely independent of any input from Scottish ministers or special advisers".

However, Prof Midwinter accused the SNP of adopting a "selective use of research that supports their view whilst ignoring critical work". He said: "The Scottish Government's misinformation campaign on both the impact of independence or devolution-max is an insult to Scottish citizens."

The public finance expert said the SNP Government's spending plans report of 2010 had claimed the Scottish economy was underperforming, based on GDP in Scotland having averaged at 2.3% over 2002 to 2007, while the average for the UK over the same period was 2.7%. But Prof Midwinter argued that this was "selective manipulation of the data".

Instead, he said unemployment in Scotland had begun improving after devolution and was better than the UK as a whole from 2005 to 2009. "The evidence is clear enough: the Scottish economy has been improving since devolution," he said. "These examples are seriously misleading the public."

However, the Scottish Government spokesman insisted: "Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (Gers) is a National Statistics publication. It is produced by Scottish Government statisticians and is entirely independent of any input from Scottish ministers or special advisers."

However, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland Margaret Curran said Prof Midwinter's raise "serious questions about the figures being put forward by the Scottish Government on the economic challenges facing Scotland and plans for separation". She continued: "The debate ahead is so crucial. Separation would be forever and the people of Scotland need all the facts before them from independent sources before they make this decision."