Salmond accused over delay on figures showing 'financial black hole'

Published on Thursday 29 November 2007 00:06

ALEX Salmond was last night accused of using neutral civil servants to suppress official figures that would have shown a continuing multi-billion-pound "black hole" in Scotland's finances.

Labour made the charge after it was revealed that the Scottish Government has delayed by six months the publication of the report that calculates the gap between expenditure and revenue north of the Border.

The Government Expenditure and Revenue in Scotland document last year revealed an 11.2 billion "black hole" in Scotland's finances, casting doubt on Nationalists' claims over the viability of independence.

However, Dr Andrew Goudie, the chief economist at the Scottish Government, disclosed that he will not publish the latest set of figures, due next month, until June 2008.

Dr Goudie said June "would provide a more timely release for this important publication", which will be revised in light of substantial academic criticism of its methodology.

Last night, however, Labour sources cast doubt on this explanation, claiming that the publication of this year's report would have shown that Scotland was still suffering from a substantial financial deficit, which would be embarrassing for the SNP administration.