SNP MINISTERS were accused of “fiddling the figures” over Scottish exports yesterday.

Scottish Labour said the government had changed the parameters of its export targets in order to meet them.

Labour’s Holyrood economy spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said the nationalists had originally aimed for a 50 per cent increase in export value from 2010 to 2017. But the timeframe was then changed to between 2006 and 2016, she said.

While the original target was missed, the changed parameters showed an export increase of 53 per cent.

“Rather than focusing on growing our economy, the SNP is instead focused on shifting the goalposts to cover up its own failure,” Ms Baillie said.

“Exports are a key driver of economic growth and are essential to building a high-wage, high-skill economy. Yet the SNP has utterly failed in its objective to substantially drive up our sales of goods overseas.”