Nicola Sturgeon stumbled badly today on live radio today, after four times she was unable to answer or justify her claims that if Scotland separated it would move up the OECD economic rankings compared to the UK's current position. The interviewer eventually clarified that the claim was asserted by the SNP, not the OECD.

Separately, she made a fundamental error about official Scottish Government figures showing how much tax is raised in Scotland and how much is spent on public services. Ms Sturgeon claimed that GERS figures show that “if you take the five years before the financial crash, in four out of those five years Scotland operated a fiscal surplus”.

In fact the GERS figures show the complete opposite – and that Scotland operated a fiscal deficit in each of those years, and has done since 1987.

Scottish Labour Finance Spokesperson Ken Macintosh MSP said:

"It is pretty embarrassing when the Deputy First Minister is caught using misleading figures on national radio. Been caught putting words in the mouth of someone else is a big blunder. Misrepresenting the OECD isn’t just inappropriate – it is completely unacceptable. In now transpires that these calculations have not been done by OECD economists, but by the SNP press office.

"The simple truth is that the SNP can’t articulate an economic case for separation because there isn’t one.

"I wish the Scotland national football team was the sixth best in the world, but asserting it doesn’t make it true. Treating the Scottish people like fools is not going to win Ms Sturgeon new recruits to her cause."

Speaking about Nicola Sturgeon’s comments on GERS, Mr Macintosh added:

"I know Ms Sturgeon was under pressure in the interview, but her observation on Scotland’s fiscal deficit was particularly troubling. The debate about Scotland’s future must be based on facts, not fiction. If she were speaking to Parliament, she would be obliged to apologise for misleading it.

"The trouble with the SNP’s approach is that, for them, separation is an article of faith that is not subject to debate or analysis. Any inconvenient fact which suggests Scotland is stronger as part of the UK is dismissed as false, scaremongering and anti-Scottish. This must stop."

16 February 2012