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SCOTTISH Finance Secretary John Swinney was challenged yesterday over his claim that the Holyrood government could set up an oil fund from day one of independence.
The Better Together campaign countered that such an oil fund could only be established using borrowed money and makes “no sense.”
Mr Swinney blamed Westminister mismanagement for Scotland’s lack of oil funds, pointing out that the Norwegian oil fund began in the mid-1990s with only modest payments and is now worth over £500 billion.
SNP ministers plan to publish figures this week to support the claim than an independent Scotland would be strong enough to start an oil fund from 2016.
But Better Together leader Alistair Darling argued that because Scotland spends more than it raises in taxes the creation of an oil fund would rely on borrowed money.
“You’re not establishing an oil fund, you’re establishing a borrowing fund which would cost you far more, and that additional money would have to come out of the money that we’re presently spending on services elsewhere,” he said.
