Labour in Scotland has poached a Scottish Office civil servant with expertise in public spending in a bid to thwart the SNP's assault on Government economics.
As exclusively reported by The Herald yesterday, John McLaren, a grade seven civil servant on a salary of just over #30,000 a year, was described by one colleague last night as ''very bright and typical of Cool Caledonia - shoulder-length hair but able to talk plain English''. Mr McLaren, who is in his 30s, is being recruited by Labour as an economic adviser.
His principal task will be to knock down the arguments advanced by SNP economics spokesman John Swinney, widely regarded as a critical force in the Nationalists' attempt to show how Labour's devolution settlement compares poorly with spending opportunities in an independent Scotland.
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