The Scottish government came under fire yesterday over “misleading” proposals to expand childcare if Scotland becomes independent.

The SNP white paper policy said it would provide 1,140 hours of free childcare a year to all pre-school children, which it was claimed would increase economic output by £2.2 billion and bring in £700 million extra in tax revenue.

But a report by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Spice) revealed that there were in fact 40,000 fewer women with children who could return to work than the white paper assumes in order to achieve the dramatic increase in revenue needed to make the childcare policy work.