Tommy Sheppard has been misquoted three times in two parliaments in one week. Here he sets the record straight...

HAVING been misquoted by the Prime Minister and the opposition front bench on the same day I’m not sure whether to feel victimised or honoured. So let me start by being very clear. I fully support devolving all control over raising and spending public finances to Scotland. Full fiscal autonomy (FFA), as some call it, would allow Scotland’s government to operate like most other devolved legislatures in the modern world.

Earlier in the week during a radio debate I said that it was important to do this right and that if FFA were rushed through without the necessary additional economic powers being devolved first it could be disastrous.

A statement of the obvious you might think. A tautology even: if you do something the wrong way it won’t be right. Within minutes this was being spun on social media as an SNP MP saying the policy was a disaster. It isn’t and I didn’t say it. The childish and wilful misrepresentation of my remarks shows, I believe, just how thin the arguments against FFA really are.

The real disaster is the current mismanagement of the Scottish economy by the Tory government in Westminster. Remote, out of touch and with a set of economic priorities which have been consistently rejected by the people of Scotland.

The debate on the Scotland Bill gets under way in detail on Monday. The SNP will be moving many amendments to ensure that this watered-down response to the Smith Commission gets toughened up. We also aim to go further. We campaigned at the recent election for measures that would go beyond the Smith commission proposals and we were given a resounding mandate to pursue them.

At the first opportunity we will propose changes to give the Scottish Parliament the ability to raise and manage its own finances. Our amendments will give the Scottish Parliament the legislative competence to remove the reservation on taxation, borrowing and public expenditure, allowing the Scottish Parliament to legislate to deliver full fiscal autonomy. The SNP will also propose amendments for further priority powers at later stages in the Bill, including powers over tax, setting the minimum wage and taking responsibility for welfare decisions.

Our Tory and Labour opponents are yet again combining to rubbish Scotland’s potential. They talk of a “black hole” in the country’s finances citing an academic study which estimated that – if nothing changes – there could be a gap between income and spending of £7.6 billion.

But over the five years to 2013-14, the UK’s cumulative deficit has been worth over £600 billion. By this logic the UK cannot afford to be fiscally autonomous – a plainly ridiculous notion.

Gaps do happen in any one year and they vary over the course of an economic cycle. Often the difference is positive, with surpluses being achieved. That’s why governments take action to grow their revenue base, borrow to cover cash flow and manage their resources prudently. The idea that a notional gap in one year results in cataclysmic cuts is economically illiterate.

If there was a will to see the Scottish Government take responsibility for its own finances this process could be achieved smoothly and effectively. It would make for better government. Most importantly, it would allow the people of Scotland to choose their own economic priorities and marshal the public resources for the good of all.

Labour’s big problem is that they would prefer to see a Tory government, rather than the Scottish Parliament, and people, making decisions on key measures like our welfare system and the minimum wage.