The SNP has attacked an "absolutely irrelevant" think-tank study which found its plan for full fiscal autonomy would leave a £7.6 billion hole in Scotland's economy.
Opposition parties have relentlessly quoted the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) analysis to attack the SNP's plans for Scotland's economy, including UK Labour leader Ed Miliband who repeated the figure again during his manifesto launch today.
But SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said Labour "are talking nonsense".
Her deputy, Stewart Hosie, said this "big scary number" ignores the £15 billion of Scottish growth predicted to 2020, the extra growth the SNP says it can generate with more powers, and the UK's comparable £75 billion deficit.
Speaking during a campaign visit to a housing development in Braehead near Glasgow, Ms Sturgeon said: "Labour are talking nonsense.
"Having more economic control in Scotland is all about getting the powers and levers we need to grow our economy faster.
"The only cuts on the horizon for Scotland, as Ed Balls has confirmed this morning, are the cuts that the Tories are proposing and Labour appear to be backing.
"If people want an alternative to austerity, if they want MPs in the House of Commons who can argue for a different approach to cutting the deficit, then you have got to vote SNP to make sure Scotland's voice is heard on that and other issues, and there is a big team of SNP MPs in the House of Commons arguing for an alternative to austerity."
Speaking on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire show, Mr Hosie said: "The (IFS) figure is for this year, that is what they say.
"We are not going to have full fiscal autonomy this year, we haven't even had the election.
"We would have to have the Queen's Speech and then legislation through both Houses of Parliament.
"It's absolutely irrelevant because it is a figure for this year."
He added: "£7.6 billion - it's a big scary number and it's the one that our opponents have alighted upon this week, (but) the UK has a deficit of £75 billion and a debt of £1.5 trillion.
"It's rather patronising for our opponents to suggest that Scotland couldn't manage a deficit down from £7.6 billion into the future, but the UK which has performed very badly can somehow suggest that they can get their deficit down."
A TNS poll today suggests the SNP has almost doubled its lead over Labour in the General Election race in Scotland, with the support of 52% of people in Scotland compared with 24% for Labour.
When asked at his manifesto launch in Manchester how he would bridge this gap, Mr Miliband said: "There is a really important argument now about what the SNP commitments are, because Nicola Sturgeon wants to come along and say that she doesn't want to make any cuts at all, and then it turns out that she has got a fiscal autonomy plan which she has doubled-down on, which she is now supporting and repeating her support for, which involves precisely that.
"It is £7.6 billion of cuts in the IFS, and right across authoritative figures everywhere to confirm that that is the case.
"But let's see what happens on May 7 in relation to Scotland, because I think there are many, many people still making up their minds."
Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy said: "The choice at this election couldn't be clearer - investment in the future of young Scots and an end to austerity with Scottish Labour, or losing £1,400 per person for our schools and hospitals with Nicola Sturgeon's plans for full fiscal autonomy."
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