Brown: Accused of failing Scotland

Labour and the SNP have traded blows over the Scottish economy as the campaign for the Holyrood election enters its last 10 days.

Senior Labour ministers have warned that an SNP victory would spell disaster for jobs north of the border.

But the nationalists have hit back, warning that Gordon Brown is failing the Scottish economy.

As Brown took to the Scottish campaign trail, Alex Salmond described the chancellor as "Scotland's busted flush".

"Gordon Brown may sit for a Scottish constituency but as a London chancellor he has totally ignored the Scottish economy," he said.

"Indeed the only time he takes an interest is at Scottish election time when big brother Brown comes back to Scotland to lecture Scottish Labour on what to think.

"Famously this chancellor claims to have abolished boom and bust. In reality, under Brown, the Scottish economy has been all bust and no boom."

Meanwhile Brown was joined on the hustings by his Cabinet colleague John Reid to launch a combined attack on the "cost of divorce and the risk to Scottish jobs".

"Uncertainty and instability would be disastrous for a separate Scotland - threatening lower investment, less growth, and high unemployment," said the chancellor.

"When an independence party has no real clue where it is going on its monetary policy, we are right to fear that divorce from the UK would hurt our economy and undermine the social fabric of the country."

The attack comes in the wake of a recent report which warned that Scotland could become an "economic wasteland" under independence.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats, however, have turned their attention to tourism, pledging a raft of new measures to boost the industry.

Scottish Lib Dem minister Ross Finnie said: "Over 28 million people across the world can claim Scottish roots. Scottish Liberal Democrats will encourage people world-wide to come to Scotland.

"We will take the opportunity of the 250th anniversary of Burns' birth to declare 2009 a Scottish homecoming year. By increasing the links with communities around the world we will be able to develop a sustained and broadening stream of visitors to Scotland.

"Cultural tourism offers great opportunities for Scotland. We will establish executive support for international festivals and create new one-stop cultural centres serving as examples of local cultural, artistic, musical and culinary excellence."

The Scottish Conservatives have switched their focus to education - pledging a radical overhaul of student finance.

"We will abolish tuition fees, or the graduate endowment as they have now been renamed," said Tory candidate Murdo Fraser.

"For four years, the Liberal Democrats have claimed that they have abolished fees, but all they did was defer the payment until after graduation.

"They sold out their voters and they betrayed the students of Scotland and their sanctimonious claims that they 'made the difference' make them all the more insufferable.

"From 2005 graduates will be in the ridiculous position where - on every pound they earn over £10,000 - they will be taxed at 42 per cent. This is more than the richest man in Scotland pays on his investment income. This is wrong."