Mr Tony Mackay, founder of the Pieda consultancy in 1980 claims that most of the additional funding required for £240m-a-year aid to the Highlands and Islands under EU Objective 1 aid programmes was not passed on to Scotland for six years. "It was much less than it should have been and could have been," he said.

He said "I was strongly criticised at the time by both Scottish Office Ministers and HIE officials, although none of them was able to produce the statistical evidence to refute my claims. Privately, a few Scottish Office officials told me that I was correct to a large extent and that they were under great pressure from the Treasury to reduce public expenditure in the Highlands and Islands and elsewhere in Scotland."

SO, DUMB Labour voters, vote SNP next time and STOP selling your country out......