Iain Duncan Smith: Independent Scotland could not afford welfare bill If the unthinkable were to happen, a Scottish Government would face a stark choice of raising taxes or cutting services. This is not scaremongering, its reality. Official figures show that pension and welfare spend in Scotland is currently just over £15 billion, £8.5 billion more than the amount raised from North Sea oil and gas. Scotland is due to hold a referendum on independence in 2014 and Coalition ministers are issuing increasingly bleak warnings to Scottish voters about the economic impact of leaving the union. Mr Duncan Smith will also claim today that the introduction of Universal Credit - the overhaul of out-of-work benefits - will mean that Scots will emerge as even bigger winners from the welfare system. The Work and Pensions Secretary said: "In many ways, Scotland will benefit more than other parts of the UK when Universal Credit comes in. A larger percentage of people will see an increase in their income through moving into work or taking on more hours. I do not believe the picture that some people paint of Scottish towns dependent on welfare. Every time I come here, I meet people who are determined to get into work. Who, with the right help are desperate to get off benefits, support their family and set an example for their children. While the message is firmly directed towards Scottish voters, the claims may anger some English voters already alarmed by the apparent unfairness in the spending distribution of public funds. But Alex Salmond, who was in London today for talks with Prime Minister David Cameron and leaders of other devolved administrations, said Mr Duncan Smith had got his figures wrong. The First Minister told BBC News: "We contribute 9.6 percent of the UK's taxation, with 9.3 per cent of the spending and just over 8 per cent of the population. The welfare bill is not financed out of North Sea oil, it is financed out of general taxation. Mr Salmond said that a Scottish Parliament committee heard yesterday from a blind man who said he was being "reduced to penury" by welfare cuts introduced by Mr Duncan Smith. "The man responsible for that has got the audacity to come to Scotland and tell us we couldn't afford to have a compassionate and proper welfare protection," he added. We could have less borrowing, more spending and we would certainly be able to sustain a position where we didn't reduce people with blindness to penury, as Iain Duncan Smith is currently doing in Scotland.