THE controversy over Theresa May’s deal with the DUP to prop up her minority government has intensified after it was suggested the £1 billion it gives to Northern Ireland is worth 3000 per cent more per person a year than the city deal scheme gives to Scots.

Kirsty Blackman, the SNP’s deputy Westminster leader, hit out after Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson last week defended the cash deal and the fact that it was excluded from the Barnett formula which would have seen extra cash come to Scotland as a result of the deal.

Davidson said Scotland received extra money from the Treasury under the city deal scheme, which was also excluded from Barnett.

But yesterday the SNP released calculations saying the cash going to Northern Ireland amounted to £263 per head per year, while the amount going to Scots’ cities from the city deal scheme amounted to just £17 per head per year in areas directly benefitting, or £7 per head per year on average in terms of the whole of Scotland.

“Tory claims that their grubby pact with the DUP is ‘just another city deal’ are completely bogus — the facts and figures show their claims are all spin and no substance,” said Blackman.

“The model is nothing like a city deal — it’s a desperate cash bung to keep the Tories and their failing government in power against the odds.

“The numbers reveal just how badly the people of Scotland are being fleeced, with Northern Ireland getting a better deal by a factor of over 3000 per cent. That’s not only eye-wateringly unfair, but shows a total disregard to the principles of devolution.”

Blackman also pointed out that unlike the £1 billion extra funding for Northern Ireland in the Tory/DUP deal, under the city deal schemes the Scottish and Welsh governments must also match any funding.

The deal has put huge pressure on Scottish Secretary David Mundell after he promised to block any “back door funding” that meant other devolved nations in the UK missing out.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said that if the deal had been worked out through the Barnett formula, which distributes money across the devolved nations, Scotland should have got £2.9 billion.

The issue was also raised at Prime Minister’s Questions last week, when Theresa May refused to say whether Mundell has pressed her on any new funding for Scotland as a result of the deal.

In Northern Ireland, the extra cash will be spent on hospitals, schools and roads in the region, with the money to be distributed by the Northern Ireland executive if a power-sharing agreement is reached. Talks to restore Stormont continue today.

Under the agreement, signed last Monday, Arlene Foster’s 10 DUP MPs will support the Prime Minister on the Queen’s speech, on Brexit legislation, any confidence motions, as well as on future budgets and tax and spending legislation.

Last week the Scottish Government threatened to invoke formal dispute resolution procedures with the UK Government over the deal.

Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones also condemned the deal, describing it as a “straight bung” to prop up “faltering” Conservatives.

But Environment Secretary Michael Gove yesterday denied the deal amounted to a “bung” insisted the money did not amount to a “partisan deal”, despite the Prime Minister needing the support of the DUP’s MPs after losing the Tories’ Commons majority.

It came as the Conservatives confirmed a report that the party paid £20,000 to fly Foster to Belfast on an RAF plane after talks in Downing Street, despite there being 38 commercial flights that run between the two countries with tickets starting at £41.

Gove insisted a deal was needed to ensure a “secure and stable” Government and highlighted Northern Ireland’s unique problems, dealing with the legacy of the Troubles.

Speaking on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show Gove said the bung claim was unfair. “ I think that’s unfair to the people of Northern Ireland and I think it’s also unfair to the way in which during this negotiation decisions were taken in the interests of everyone in the United Kingdom.”