Scotland receives £10 billion more as part of the UK than it pays in tax, according to the latest set of figures comparing how much public money is spent in Scotland and how much is revenue is raised through tax.

The annual Government Expenditure and Revenue Statistics (GERS) for Scotland for 2006-07 also shows that Scotland gets £1,107 more per head in public spending than the rest of the UK.

Government spending in Scotland in 2006-07 totalled just over £52.4billion, after accounting adjustments, and revenue raised in taxes was £42.3billion.

The figures have triggered fierce exchanges between the Scottish government and Westminster over how they should be interpreted.

SNP ministers, who found themselves for the first time in the position of releasing the figures, pointed out that the headline figure of £10.2billion excluded North Sea oil receipts. If these were included on an estimated 83 per cent geographical share for Scotland, they said, the country's deficit fell to £2.7billion.

But even that figure did not give the full picture because it did not reflect the recent huge increase in oil prices, they said. On that basis, said the SNP, Scotland would have an estimated £4.4billion surplus this year.

The £10.2billion deficit for 2006/07 compares to the £9.6billion the previous year and the more than £11billion the year before that. If future capital investment in Scotland is stripped out and only current spending is used, the £10.2billion deficit falls to £6.7billion, also excluding oil revenues.

When Scotland's geographical share of of North Sea revenues is included, the £6.7billion deficit turns into a surplus for Scotland of £800million - a figure seized on by the SNP to bolster their claims that Scotland was, in fact, in surplus and capable of standing on its own financial feet.

In terms of spending in individual policy areas, the revenue report says that £1,780 per head is spent on health in Scotland compared to the UK average of £1,557; £1,355 per head is spent on education (UK average £1,181) and £3,163 per head is spent on welfare and social protection (UK average £2,916).

The Treasury, unusually, accused the Scottish civil servants who compiled the report of changing Treasury data, especially the decision to attribute oil revenues to Scotland when it was a UK-wide resource. “Even using this methodology, the report shows that Scotland was in deficit in 2006-07 by £10.2billion, excluding North Sea oil” a Treasury spokesman said. “The fact is that in Scotland borrowing is higher than the rest of the UK - tax receipts per person are lower and spending per person is higher.”

John Swinney, the Scottish Finance Secretary. said the figures showed that, with oil revenues, resources flowed from Scotland to the UK rather than the other way round. “The SNP have long known that Scotland could flourish as an independent country, now GERS shows that Scotland would be a prosperous nation with a budget surplus. With these figures based on oil prices of only $65 a barrel, it is abundantly clear that with current prices of over $120 a barrel - meaning an offshore windfall of £4-£5billion this year on top of the £10billion forecast at the time of the Budget - Scotland's black gold is plugging the Treasury's black hole.”

Scottish Labour accused the SNP of misrepresenting official statistics to make the case for independence.

Iain Gray, Labour's finance spokesman at Holyrood, said that the SNP response was a distortion of what the figures actually said. “The inconvenient truth for the Nationalists is that the figures prove yet again that Scotland benefits from being inside the UK,” he said. “Even with the maximum possible oil revenues included, there would still be a huge deficit.”

The Scottish Conservatives said that the SNP was trying to build the case for independence on the back of volatile oil prices and diminishing supplies. Derek Brownlee, the party's finance spokesman, said: “The SNP seems to be highly selective in its crystal ball gazing.”

The Liberal Democrats pointed out that the SNP used to call the GERS figures discredited and inaccurate. “Yet today the Finance Secretary hails them as making the case for independence,” Tavish Scott, the party's finance spokesman, said. “The reality is that the Finance Secretary has been forced to cherry-pick the one scenario where Scotland would be in surplus. Even then, the annual surplus amounts to just ten days of Scottish Government spending. Yet his own figures show that the true picture is of a deficit of £2.7billion even with oil revenues.”

John McLaren, an economic analyst with the Centre for Public Policy for the regions, in Glasgow, said: “What this report makes clear is that under the current UK expenditure and revenue policies Scotland has a relatively large fiscal deficit excluding its share of the North Sea sector. However, the position can alter dramatically once uncertain North Sea revenues are included, depending on their size.”

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