SCOTTISH Finance Secretary John Swinney faced off against critics yesterday who branded SNP promises to end austerity under independence as “replete with economic error.”

Mr Swinney repeated the pledge before reporters in Dundee yesterday, claiming that a Yes vote in September’s independence referendum was “the only alternative to the Westminster austerity agenda.

“With a vote for independence we will have the tools to change course, manage Scotland’s resources responsibly and invest in our economy and our public services,” he said.

The speech follows plans floated last month to borrow heavily in the event of a vote for independence.

The first three financial years, starting in 2016, would see an increase in public spending by 3 per cent each year.

The loans would also see a significant rise in Scotland’s deficit, with extra borrowing of £2.4 billion anticipated for 2018/19 alone.

But critics have warned that Mr Swinney’s plans would fall by the wayside if the SNP sought continued membership of the European Union for an independent nation.

The EU has instructed member states not to allow their deficits to exceed 3 per cent.

Mr Swinney’s plan would see Scotland’s deficit rise to around 7 per cent, based on the Scottish government’s own estimates.

No2EU and No vote campaigner John Foster said Mr Swinney’s government had to choose between the EU or austerity.

“No-deficit budgets are mandatory under EU law by 2018,” he said.

“That’s why the UK Treasury’s 2014 Report to the EU Commission makes this commitment — with drastic consequences for the whole public sector.

“Saying anything else is to mislead the Scottish people,” he said.

University of Glasgow professor of public law Adam Tomkins slated the Scottish government’s post-independence plans as “replete with economic error.

“They have had to revise and change so many of the figures on which the independence white paper was based, and we also know that it is based in large part on fantasy,” he said.