Independent Scotland's taxpayers 'face £1.6 billion bill for only three of Alex Salmond's spending promises' Danny Alexander, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said the figures demonstrated how the SNP were ignoring the financial "realities" of creating a new country separate from the UK. Projected revenues from North Sea oil and gas were recently cut by £3.5 billion, while the Institute for Fiscal Studies identified an extra £6 billion of spending cuts or tax increases Scotland would have to make shortly after separation. The Treasury's intervention came after the Institute of Directors last week challenged Mr Salmond to cost the White Paper instead of making up answers "on the hoof" or producing "wish lists." Alistair Darling, the former Labour Chancellor, said the document contained one "scanty" page of estimates and compared this with the detail set out in the Treasury's Red Book every Budget. The Treasury said its analysis was consistent with the latest economic forecasts produced for the recent Autumn Statement and the methodology used for Budgets. Mr Alexander, the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey MP, said: "This detailed Treasury analysis shows the Scottish Government would need to find £1.6 billion a year in higher taxes or spending cuts to fund just some of the additional commitments set out in the White Paper. The reality is that the White Paper shows nothing about how they would pay for these commitments. The Scottish Government cannot claim it is going to spend what it will not have. He said the reduction in oil projections would force a separate Scotland to cut spending, whereas the Scottish Government as part of the UK is to receive an extra £300 million over the next three years. Mr Salmond has put the extra childcare policy at the centre of his independence plans despite already having control over this policy area. Support for separation is much lower among female voters. In the first independent Scottish Parliament he has promised the state will provide 1,140 hours of childcare to all three and four-year-olds and to "vulnerable" two-year-olds. This would be extended to all children from the age of one in the second parliament. According to the Treasury, the first stage would cost £570 million a year. Taking into account the APD and corporation tax pledges, the analysis said this would mean a separate Scottish taxpayer would have to find an extra £1 billion per year in the first parliamentary term following separation. This would increase to £1.64 billion annually when the childcare pledge was extended in the second parliament. Mr Salmond has claimed this cost would be offset by extra tax revenue from mothers who return to work thanks to the policy. However, the First Minister has not produced any projections showing the extent to which the cost could be offset. Nicola Sturgeon compared the figures with a previous analysis that considered a greater number of the SNP's spending pledges, which priced them at £32 billion. She said: "Danny Alexander's figures are all over the place. This analysis completely ignores the dynamic impact of the policies we are proposing to increase economic activity, which will boost growth and tax revenues.