Scots’ bonus ‘wishful thinking’

THE CHIEF Secretary to the Treasury has branded claims Scots could net an “independence bonus” of £1,000 a year as “pure wishful thinking” at the same time as he has been challenged to set out potential cuts to public spending north of the border if there is a No vote in September’s referendum.

Danny Alexander likened the Scottish Government to a “gambler trying to persuade us to bet the house on a six horse accumulator” after it published a report which claimed Scotland could be £5bn a year better off 15 years after independence.

Meanwhile, Holyrood Finance Secretary John Swinney has pressed the senior Westminster politician on whether the system for allocating funds to the different parts of the UK would be changed if Scotland voted to stay in the UK amid fears of a £4 billion cut in public spending in Scotland.