Labour warnstown jobs are under threat

That was the hard-hitting claim from local MP Gregg McClymont and high profile Labour colleagues at a “No, Thanks” demo staged outside Cumbernauld’s HMRC base.

Local workers have been embroiled in a long-running dispute over wages and conditions, but according to the Labour men the most urgent problem is the “threat” of a yes vote in the referendum.

Mr McClymont said: “When you talk to people in Cumbernauld practically everyone knows someone who works there – it is the UK’s biggest tax centre, and is hugely important locally.

“But if Scotland became independent it would lose more than 90 per cent of its market immediately – which then poses a very obvious question about jobs.”

Jim Murphy MP, who is taking the “No, Thanks” message to 100 locations around Scotland, said: “There are some complex issues surrounding the referendum – but this isn’t one of them.” he said.

“The SNP keep telling us on vital issues like this ‘dont worry - it will be fine’, but they don’t have the answers people need.”

Scottish Labour deputy leader Anas Sarwar recalled a remark made in 2012 by transport minister Keith Brown MSP, who reportedly said lost civil service jobs were a price worth paying for independence.

Mr Sarwar said: “The SNP Government should be ashamed that a senior minister is saying people’s jobs and livelihoods are a price worth paying for independence.”