THE Scottish Government's ­failure to match health spending levels south of the Border has cost NHS Scotland £700 million since 2009, the Conservatives have claimed.

Scots Tory leader Ruth ­Davidson yesterday accused Alex Salmond of breaking a promise to increase health spending in line with England. She cited recent figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies showing health spending in England has risen by 4.4 per cent since 2009/10 compared with a 1.2 per cent fall in Scotland over the same period.

She said: "The Prime Minister promised to increase health spending in real terms and he has.

"Alex Salmond made a pledge to increase NHS spending but he has broken this to the tune of £700m. He now has to explain where that money has gone, and what the SNP is going to do to ensure spending on the NHS increases in years to come."

Challenged during First ­Minister's Questions, the Mr Salmon said the IFS figures included Scottish Government spending on the Commonwealth Games, a claim denied by the think tank.

Later, his spokesman ­questioned whether the figures were based on a like-for-like comparison of spending in England and Scotland. The IFS said it stood by its figures, which include investment in new hospital facilities as well as day to days costs of providing care, saying they reflected "the best overall measure of spending on the NHS".

Mr Salmond insisted the ­Scottish Government had kept its promise to use its share of health spending increases, known as budget consequentials, on the NHS. He said frontline health ­spending in Scotland had risen by 3.2 per cent in real terms as a result. He told MSPs: "How on earth would that be possible given the seven per cent decline in the Scottish Government's budget unless every pound of consequentials had been passed on to the health service in Scotland?"

The Scottish Government's record on the NHS also came under fire from Scots Labour leader Johann Lamont.

She cited official figures earlier this week showing the health service was failing to meet government targets to treat 95 per cent of cancer patients within 62 days. Across Scotland, 92.9 per cent of urgently referred patients began treatment within the deadline, in the period April to June.

Accusing Mr Salmond of being a part-time First Minister, Ms Lamont added: "After two years of dismissing the problems in our health service, how long do the people of Scotland have to wait before the Government accepts the scale of the challenge and gets round to fixing our NHS?"

Mr Salmond conceded the latest figures were "short of the target" but insisted they were better than in England or Wales.