The SNP’s Barnett bombshell would cost 138,000 Scottish jobs, new figures published by Scottish Labour revealed today.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Labour’s Deputy Leader Kezia Dugdale exposed the impact of the SNP’s plan for full fiscal autonomy within the UK -; which would mean all tax and spending staying in Scotland, and the scrapping of the Barnett Formula.

Yesterday the SNP’s own figures confirmed that the Barnett formula was worth £4 billion to Scotland’s finances in 2013/14. The experts say this will rise in the coming years.

Earlier this week the Scottish Affairs Select Committee said scrapping Barnett would cost Scotland £6.5 billion immediately. The independent and impartial Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said yesterday the cost to Scotland would be £6.6 billion.

The impartial experts at the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), using the SNP Government’s own economic model, confirmed that reducing public spending in Scotland by £6.5 billion would cost 138,000 jobs here.

Ms Dugdale said only Scottish Labour can now credibly claim to be the anti-austerity party of Scotland.

Scottish Labour’s Deputy Leader Kezia Dugdale said:

“After years of the SNP telling us only they can stand up for Scotland, we now know the reality is very different. Far from standing up for Scotland, the SNP’s Barnett bombshell would cost 138,000 jobs. That would devastate families in Scotland and be damaging for our economy.

“The SNP’s plan for full fiscal autonomy and scrapping Barnett would mean massive cuts to our NHS and thousands and thousands and thousands of job losses for Scotland. This would all be on top of the cuts already planned by the Tories. The SNP want to impose austerity-max on Scotland.

“Only Scottish Labour can claim to be the anti-austerity party of Scotland. The Tories want to take us back to the public spending levels of the 1930s and the SNP would put thousands of jobs at risk.

“The only way to get a Labour Government is to vote for Labour. We need to do everything we can to stop the Tories being the largest party at the election. A vote for anybody other than Scottish Labour risks the Tories being the largest party across the UK and letting David Cameron into Downing Street by the back door. That would be a disaster for Scotland.”