THE SNP have hit back at claims the Growth Commission is misleading and unrealistic, saying the attack on the report shows that “Unionists are clearly rattled”.
The comments come as These Islands, a pro-Union think tank established by businessman and online commentator Kevin Hague, publishes its response to Andrew Wilson’s proposals, this morning.
The long-awaited Growth Commission report was released in May, and recommended an independent Scotland keep using the UK pound for an extended period, and strictly limit public spending and borrowing.
READ MORE: This is what Nicola Sturgeon wants to say to Growth Commission critics
Hague said it was wrong for the Growth Commission to claim their recommendations “reject austerity.”
“Our paper shows that the SNP’s Growth Commission report is objectively more optimistic than the 2014 White Paper, not more realistic as has been widely claimed,” he said.
“In fact the Growth Commission’s report contains highly misleading analysis, fails to address the key economic questions and – we presume unintentionally – actually strengthens the economic case for Scotland remaining in the UK.”
Hague says had Scotland been independent and following the Growth Commission’s recommendations, then public spending would have been £58 billion – £66bn less than what it actually was over the last decade.
He also said applying Growth Commission policy in the future would lead “to austerity far greater than anything Scotland has recently experienced”.
READ MORE: Key points from the Sustainable Growth Commission report
An SNP spokeswoman responded to Hague’s claims, saying: “If the Growth Commission’s approach had been followed over the last decade, the £2.6bn of cuts to the Scottish Government’s budget by Westminster would have been completely reversed, with the prospect of additional public spending beyond that.
“The commission has kickstarted a serious and welcome debate over Scotland’s future, and unionists are clearly rattled by the boost it has given to the independence case, with last month’s Scottish Social Attitudes survey showing that the numbers who view independence as positive for Scotland’s economy now outnumber those who believe otherwise.”
LibDem leader Willie Rennie said: “We can do far better than years of SNP independence austerity.”
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