Finance and Economy Secretary Kate Forbes is in hot water again following a car crash radio interview in which she discussed her party’s stance on Scotland’s finances and was accused of being “in denial”.

The SNP’s party conference begins today with the topic of independence expected to dominate the agenda, at the expense of the NHS, education and even the coronavirus pandemic.

However, with polling putting the nationalist cause way down the voter’s list of priorities and support for the Union at a new high of almost 60 per cent, Ms Forbes was pushed to answer questions about Scotland’s deficit.

Ms Forbes’s budgeting bravado did little to answer the question of how the country would balance its budget deficit that sits at almost a quarter of its GDP.