ALEX Salmond has been called on to provide "clarity not conjuring tricks" after the Coalition Government accused the Scottish Government of dishonesty for using figures in its White Paper that omitted the 2008 economic crash.
Alistair Carmichael, the Scottish Secretary, claimed this was another instance of the Yes Campaign using a "sleight of hand" to ignore the hard facts.
It is alleged the White Paper figures left out the 2008 downturn and claimed each person in Scotland would have been better off under independence during the past decades. Mr Carmichael pointed out how figures showed that when the years beyond 2007 were included, Scots would have been £2500 worse off.
Johann Lamont, the Scottish Labour leader, had pressed the First Minister on the issue during First Minister's Questions this week. She accused the SNP of having "tried to airbrush the banking crisis out of their figures" to make their case for independence. A spokesman for Mr Salmond said the crash had been "a very unusual event", which would have "warped the figures".
He explained: "We were looking at long-term trend and the long-term trend omits that volatile period. It is generally accepted it was a very unusual event and it would not have allowed a fair comparison."
But Mr Carmichael declared: "The Scottish Government already had a credibility gap, given previous form on the EU legal advice that never was and the lack of detail in the White Paper. That is fast widening into a chasm as yet more sleight of hand is brought to light."
The Secretary of State insisted: "Pretending the financial crash didn't happen and had no consequences for Scotland is as dangerous as it is dishonest."
John Swinney, the Scottish Finance Secretary, hit back, accusing the Scottish Secretary of parroting Johann Lamont.He said: "The 30-year average GDP growth rate for Scotland up to 2012 within the UK is 2.3%; that compares to 2.5% for a basket of comparable countries like Austria, Denmark and Finland.
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