Alex Salmond was branded "slippery" today as he claimed an independent Scotland would walk away with nine-tenths of North Sea oil assets but leave English taxpayers to shoulder the £187 billion exposure to the bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland.
A furious reaction was led by former Chancellor Alistair Darling who said he was wrong on the oil share and that it was Mr Salmond himself who encouraged RBS to make the huge errors behind its downfall.
"It is typical of his bluster," said Mr Darling, who as Chancellor was forced to bail out RBS. "He cannot overlook the fact that he publicly endorsed the deal by RBS that proved so disastrous. The disaster that overtook the bank was Made in Edinburgh not London."
Mr Salmond had told Channel 4 News that "the people responsible [for RBS] ... were the London Treasury. I'm afraid people will have to take responsibility for the past mistakes they made."
But he was later embarrassed by the publication of a letter he wrote to Sir Fred Goodwin, the disgraced former boss of RBS, that encouraged the bank to buy ABN Ambro, the deal that wrecked the bank's finances. Promising "any assistance my office can provide", he signed off: "Good luck with the bid."
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Mr Salmond was not being straight with Scottish voters by avoiding a debate on the impact upon jobs, Scotland's share of Britain's colossal deficit, the loss of defence employment and public spending.
"All of these questions have been left completely unanswered by Alex Salmond for so long, and he keeps playing cat and mouse with the people of Scotland," said Mr Clegg. "That creates huge uncertainty, which is bad for investment, bad for jobs, bad for the people who matter the most."
In a personal attack, he accused the media-friendly Scot of political narcissism. "Sometimes I get the impression he thinks it's all about him. It's not, it's about the people of Scotland."
Mr Salmond earlier promised that independence would transform Scots from "surly lodgers" to "friendly neighbours".
In Scotland's parliament today, nationalists tabled a motion demanding a referendum on their own terms - offering full independence, no change or greater devolution - held in 2014, the anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn. They want 16 and 17-year-olds to be able to vote.
