Row erupts over 'recession' claims

Labour says unemployment is at a 25-year low

A fierce row has broken out between Labour and the Scottish National Party over the state of the Scottish economy.

The SNP has alleged that the Scottish Executive is fiddling the figures to disguise the fact that the economy is officially in recession.

But Labour has hit back by accusing the SNP of talking down the economy for purely political purposes.

The row centres on the growth figures for the last quarter of 1999 and the first quarter of this year.

John Swinney: "Damaging time"

The Scottish Executive says economic growth was steady during the first period and declined slightly during the second.

But the SNP's John Swinney says that if the figure for October to December is not rounded up and is left correct to five decimal places, then there have been two consecutive quarters of decline - the official definition of recession.

The party's deputy leader and enterprise spokesman said: "Labour's outrageous attempt to fiddle with rounding and decimal places to disguise the fact of recession is as inexcusable as it is unforgivable.

"Rather than sticking their collective heads in the sand, Labour ministers should admit the problem and its sources.

"Then we can get on with working on putting it right."

Political purposes

He claimed Scotland was in recession for the first time since 1980/81 - and Margaret Thatcher's reign at Westminster.

"Labour condemned the wreckage of Thatcherism - and is now presiding over a potentially even more damaging time for our economy."

Labour says the economy is growing

But a Labour spokesman accused the SNP of yet again talking down the Scottish economy for political purposes.

"The fact is that the official figures do not show two falls," said the spokesman.

"What they do show is that Scotland and the UK grew at around the same rate over the past year - 2.25%.

"Leading economic commentators agree that Scotland remains on trend for continuing growth.

"While the SNP continue to distort the facts in order to talk down the Scottish economy, the Labour Party will continue to promote the Scottish economy, building on our successes which have seen the lowest unemployment rates for 25 years."