LEFT-WING Eurosceptics lambasted Scottish Finance Secretary John Swinney yesterday for thinking he could borrow heavily to end austerity while remaining in the EU straitjacket.

The SNP minister floated proposals earlier this week to up borrowing in the event of a vote for independence to end years of austerity budgets under Westminster governments.

He told reporters he believed the loans were justified to “encourage growth and dynamism within the economy.”

But No2EU’s John Foster told the Morning Star that while borrowing to end austerity made sense economically, the SNP could not promise this while shepherding Scotland back into the European Union.

“It is definitely not compatible with the SNP’s other declared aims of securing membership of the EU or the sterling area,” he said.

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

In the first three years of Mr Swinney’s plan, starting in 2016, public spending would increase 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 that would see Scotland’s deficit rise to around 7 per cent, based on Holyrood estimates.

“It’s very difficult to see how Swinney could justify it. If they look at a country that has 7 per cent, then they’re going to say ‘you need immediate structural reforms’,” said Mr Foster.

“It doesn’t really match up.”