HIROO Onoda, who died last year, was the most famous of those Japanese soldiers who hid out in the jungle continuing to fight the Second World War for years, decades even, after hostilities ended. "Holdouts" they were called.

Alistair Carmichael peered out from the Scotland Office on Wednesday a referendum holdout. Reacting to the latest Gers figures, which showed Scotland £12billion in the red last year, he declared: "Today's figures from the Scottish Government put the case for remaining in the UK beyond all doubt."

The Gers (Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland) report did indeed highlight the difficult position from which an independent Scotland would start life. Scotland was deeper in deficit than the rest of the UK and faces a worsening situation as a result of low oil prices. The deficit will be twice as big as the UK's next financial year, the Institute for Fiscal Studies reckoned, meaning an independent Scotland would have to find an extra £6.6billion from somewhere to maintain public spending at present levels.

For Nationalists who acknowledged the fact (many took the easier route of simply dismissing it as scaremongering propaganda), Scotland's plight is result of being tied to a failing UK - a clear demonstration of the need for independence.

For Unionists like Mr Carmichael it highlighted the sheer expense and risk of leaving a UK whose borrowing benefits Scotland disproportionately. His line of attack however, was out of step with the real debate that followed the publication of Gers.

One of the most striking aspects of post-referendum politics has been how quickly the economic arguments for and against independence have receded from public consciousness. The referendum continues to permeate political debate but the story has moved on - to discussion of more powers, to the surge in support for the SNP and to Labour's impending annihilation.

We should not have been too surprised, then, when Gers sparked not a re-run of the referendum but a row over austerity, the issue at the heart of the General Election.

The SNP has positioned itself as the anti-austerity party. In a speech in London last month, Nicola Sturgeon said she would demand a 0.5 per cent annual increase in public spending if her party emerges from the election in a position to influence the next UK government. She claimed to be challenging a "cosy consensus" between Labour and the Conservatives on tackling the deficit by cutting spending.

The reality is slightly different, as Paul Johnson of the IFS highlighted this week. There is not a vast gulf between Labour's proposed cuts (1.4 per cent per year) and the SNP's proposed increases, he argued. A much bigger difference exists between Labour and the Conservatives, who plan to cut spending by about 7 per cent. Labour and the SNP, it turns out enjoy a closer consensus than Labour and the Tories. It is also worth noting that the IFS chief also cast doubt on the SNP's claim that debt and the deficit would still be reduced under their plans. Both would probably be higher by the end of the next parliament, he said.

Such details are unlikely to deflect Ms Sturgeon. She has a found a powerful election message and one that's perfectly aimed to hit Labour where it hurts.

Labour sees the Gers figures as a chance to hit back. The Nationalists' aim of securing full fiscal autonomy, or devo max, after the election exposes them to claims they would need to raise taxes or cut spending to balance the books. Assessing Gers, the IFS concluded that would be the case unless the price of oil soared or the Scottish government developed "credible policies" to boost economic growth. "That's the point," declared an exasperated Ms Sturgeon during First Minister's Questions, arguing that devo max would equip Scotland with the powers to do just that. Her opponents find the idea completely implausible, given the scale of growth required.

So the battle lines have been drawn, not over independence but austerity, and by the time FMQs came round the previous day's Gers statistics had been distilled into election soundbites. The SNP proposals would lead to "austerity max," Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour deputy leader warned. Devo max, she said, would unleash a "Barnett bombshell" putting 138,000 jobs at risk. "Mythical cuts," said Ms Sturgeon, who insisted the real austerity was promised by Labour and the Tories. "The only way to stop that is to vote for the Scottish National Party, because only the SNP offers an alternative to Tory austerity," she said. Expect those claims to dominate the next few weeks.