Craig Hoy: “This is a deeply worrying sign for hard-pressed Scots, who are already being clobbered by sky-high SNP taxes.”

The damning results in this survey show that SNP ministers have lost control of their ever-growing army of civil servants.

If they don't stop increasing taxes and squandering money on their pet projects, then Scotland's economy will only continue to lag behind the rest of the UK.

John Swinney and his ministerial colleagues need to accept their approach is going to mean more pain for Scots in the coming years, through more tax rises or spending cuts or both.

It’s indefensible that, while John Swinney imposes soaring taxes and cuts essential services to the bone, he and his Nationalist ministers refuse to cut their own cloth accordingly.