An independent Scotland would be left with a financial “black hole” as nationalists have not been straight about the country’s oil and gas tax revenues, the Chancellor has claimed.
George Osborne said the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts the UK’s receipts for oil and gas will generate £3.5 billion in 2016.
This compares to the Scottish Government’s estimate of £6.8 billion for Scotland alone in 2016/17, MPs heard.
The Chancellor was replying to a question from Labour former chancellor Alistair Darling, who leads the Better Together campaign to keep Scotland part of the UK.
Mr Osborne told Mr Darling: “The forecast in the entirely independent Office for Budget Responsibility… today is for the whole of the UK that oil and gas receipts are £3.5 billion in 2016.
“This compares to the £6.8 billion that the SNP Scottish government have been basing their premises upon and their claims for independence. That is twice as much as the OBR independently assess.
“It is another example of how they are not being straight with people about the facts around independence and it will of course mean that there is a black hole in an independent Scotland’s public finances, which would cost the Scottish people £1,000.
“So it is yet another example of how they are not being straight and the facts, the independent facts, refute their case.”
Mr Darling had told Mr Osborne: “I notice your growth forecasts follow a very familiar pattern of being fairly flat and then rising to I think 3.7% in four years time. Of course that drives your assumptions in relation to borrowing and debt.
“I wonder if you would agree with me there are risks remaining, not just in the eurozone but also here at home.
“And in that connection could you tell me what the Office for Budget Responsibility is forecasting in relation to North Sea oil revenues over the next few years because there are some people who believe that is a limitless source of funding for whatever they happen to be promising in the coming referendum.”