A row broke out yesterday after it emerged the Scottish Government spent almost £85,000 on billboards to “promote” independence.
Shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran said data obtained using freedom of information revealed £84,160.80 was spent on adverts between December 2-15 to advertise the white paper.
“While families across Scotland are struggling, the SNP are spending taxpayers’ money to promote their plans for separation,” added the Labour MP.
“In two weeks in December, they spent £6,000 a day putting up posters across Scotland.”
Mrs Curran told the Labour conference in Perth the money was effectively being used to promote the Yes Scotland campaign.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Anas Sarwar said: “I think when we look back on this referendum in five years’ time or 10 years’ time one of the great scandals that will be exposed is the amount of time, money and effort put in from the Scottish Government machine.
“This is not a government, it’s a campaign.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said it had always said that it would set out its proposition for independence to inform voters.
“It is only right that there should be a public information campaign to ensure that as many people as possible are able to have access to the arguments and make an informed decision on September 18,” she added.
Meanwhile, Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont expressed support for councils run or part-run by Labour, such as Aberdeen, which have been criticised by the Scottish Government for taking decisions they do not like.
She claimed SNP ministers were “entirely cynical” in the way they treated councils in terms of cutting their budgets then using them as a “human shield instead of taking responsibility for themselves”.