Glasgow SNP MSP Bob Doris has stepped in to the row over Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne’s remarks about alleged business concerns over the forthcoming vote on Scotland’s constitutional future. Glasgow North East Labour MP Willie Bain backed the Tory Chancellor, claiming he too had spoken to undisclosed firms who were putting off investment because of the independence referendum.

Bob Doris has now challenged Mr Bain to reveal what investments he was referring to, or to admit he was attempting to mislead and scare voters.

Mr Doris said: “After Labour’s deplorable economic record, both at UK and Scottish level, it beggars belief that a Glasgow Labour MP is now talking down Scotland as a place to do business and doing so arm in arm with a Tory chancellor.

“Business leaders know that Scotland is showing remarkable economic resilience despite George Osborne delivering the biggest cuts to Scotland in a generation. Businesses will continue to invest here and scaremongering from the likes of Willie Bain and George Osborne won’t change that.

“It will not have escaped anyone’s attention that neither Osborne nor Bain were able to name the companies they were referring to. Willie Bain doesn’t seem to know about recent big jobs announcements from firms like Amazon, Aker, Avaloq, Doosan Power Systems or Gamesa.

“Thanks to the economic policies of the SNP under John Swinney’s stewardship, Scotland now has higher employment and lower unemployment than the rest of the UK. The SNP Plan MacB has helped to mitigate some of the worst effects of Tory rule.

“As Tory welfare cuts get set to hammer the poorest in our society, Willie Bain is too busy fantasizing about how much worse things could be to put up any serious opposition.

“Meanwhile, I have been meeting John Swinney to make the case for Enterprise Zone status for areas in the north of Glasgow in order to create more jobs. What exactly is Willie Bain doing to talk up his own constituency as a place to invest and create jobs?

“Anxieties about the economic future are running high across Europe and the world, not least because of recent turmoil in the Euro-zone. It is utterly irresponsible for politicians to seek to add to that. If they have something to convey they should be able to do it without making up stories to scare people in the process.”