Labour will call for a new independent economic forecasting and analysis body to be set up when the SNP Government introduces its Budget in Holyrood this week.

The party wants a Scottish Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to be established in advance of the devolution of new tax powers recommended by the Smith Commission.

Making the case for a new body, shadow finance secretary Jackie Baillie accused the SNP of "cooking the books" on oil forecasts during the independence referendum campaign.

The Scottish Government dismissed the call as "ill-informed".

Ms Baillie said: "Taking responsibility for giving Scots an honest assessment of the public finances away from ministers and putting it into the hands of experts free of political manipulation is the right thing to do for Scotland.

"With the major new powers coming to Scotland, the government in Edinburgh will be responsible for collecting much of the taxes Scots pay.

"We need to know there is a watchdog holding ministers to account."

Ms Baillie said she wanted a Scottish OBR to scrutinise the manifestos of all the political parties at the Scottish Parliament.

She added: "The way the SNP cooked the books on oil during the referendum proved they can't be trusted to be honest with the Scottish people about the public finances. Scots were misled on oil by the SNP and it must never happen again."

Economist Dr Angus Armstrong, of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, welcomed the proposal.

He is currently bidding to become Labour candidate in Alistair Darling's Edinburgh South-West seat at the general election.

Dr Armstrong said: "A Scottish OBR will restore the public's confidence in government forecasts and government accounts because it puts them beyond the control of politicians. The new powers being delivered to Scotland through the Smith Agreement demand this."

A spokesman for Finance Secretary John Swinney said: "Ms Baillie seems completely unaware that Labour supported our establishment of the Scottish Fiscal Commission, and indeed, our Programme for Government makes clear our intention to put the commission on a statutory footing, proposing that its remit expand to reflect any new fiscal powers devolved to the Scottish Parliament.

"But frankly, it takes some brass neck for a Labour politician to accuse others of making over-optimistic fiscal forecasts. In just six years, Gordon Brown managed to get his borrowing predictions wrong by over £400 billion - and of course, during Labour's time in office national debt almost trebled. In contrast the SNP Government has balanced the budget every year.

"Meanwhile, the oil price assumptions used by the Scottish Government were consistent with industry (and global) predictions and were indeed lower than those predicted by UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).

"Jackie Baillie's time would be better spent backing Scottish Government and industry calls for immediate fiscal changes from the UK Government to support the oil industry - something which Labour have so far failed to do."

Other parties have also been setting out their priorities ahead of the Stage 1 debate on the Budget on Wednesday.

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said his party would call on the Scottish Government to increase the threshold for student loan repayment for Scottish university graduates to match that of English graduates.

Graduates in England contribute 9% of their pre-tax earnings over £21,000 towards student loan repayment while Scottish graduates pay back the same percentage of earnings over £16,910.

In a letter to Mr Swinney, Mr Rennie said: "For higher education students, we think the opportunity exists to help graduates by increasing the threshold for student loan repayments."

The party's education spokesman Liam McArthur MSP added: "The disparity in repayment thresholds between Scottish graduates and their peers in England is down to a choice made by the Scottish Government.

"The Scottish Government has the ability to match the English threshold of £21,000 without any effect on their spending power. But currently graduates in Scotland begin repaying their loan when they earn over £16,910.

"Our fairer proposals would put more money back in the pockets of low and middle income graduates. We will be pressing the SNP Government to adopt this costed and sensible move in this year's budget."

The Greens will use the debate to call for the Budget to be amended to include a new fund to help planning authorities cope with applications for hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, developments.

The UK Government is considering awarding licences to gas drilling firms in parts of Scotland including Argyll, Ayrshire, Aberdeenshire and East Lothian.

The party is urging communities concerned about the controversial technique to lobby their MSP to sign a parliamentary motion calling for a ban.

Alison Johnstone, Green MSP for Lothian, said: "If the Scottish Government is serious about its position on fracking - that is to put faith in the planning framework - it needs to step up and support our completely unprepared planning authorities.

"Ministers have in the past provided local authorities with funding to deal with high levels of windfarm determinations. Why not support councils facing fracking applications?

"The Scottish Government has options including underspends and consequential funds, so let's see if they take this opportunity to help shut the door to fracking."