By Steve Bargeton, political editor

PRIME MINISTER Tony Blair yesterday launched a scathing attack on one of Scotland’s most prominent business figures after he publicly backed the SNP in the Holyrood elections.

Former Royal Bank of Scotland chairman Sir George Mathewson yesterday backed SNP leader Alex Salmond for first minister and argued that the SNP and independence could free Scotland from a “dependency culture.”

However, during a visit to Scotland, Mr Blair accused Sir George of “self-indulgence” and dismissed his arguments as “absurd.”

The Prime Minister also claimed that the SNP’s plans for independence, and the policies it would pursue in power, would create an £11.9 billion “black hole” in the Scottish economy—the equivalent of an extra £5242 in taxes each year per Scottish household.

The intervention of Sir George, who helped make the Royal Bank of Scotland the world’s fifth biggest bank, is a major boost to the SNP election campaign.

He accused Labour of creating a “fear culture” around the prospect of independence, and made it clear that he did not share that view.

“It’s difficult to forecast the future, but I see no circumstance where independence would be a serious (economic) disadvantage,” he wrote in a letter to a newspaper.

He also accused the Labour and Liberal Democrat coalition at Holyrood of having a “lack of high-quality leadership.”

The timing could not have been worse for Mr Blair on his second pre-election visit to Scotland to try to steady the Scottish party, which has been battered by opinion polls that consistently show them losing out to the Nationalists on May 3.

Hitting back, Mr Blair said, “I have to say, with great respect to Sir George, that I regard it as pure self-indulgence. You talk to real businesses, talk to the types of people I have just been addressing, and look at the impact of separation on real businesses and real families.

“It’s absurd to say that there is not going to be a cost and a penalty, particularly when the SNP have got unfunded commitments, proposals for a local income tax, and when our two economies are so closely integrated.”

Mr Salmond described Mr Blair’s attack on Sir George as “foolish” and said Scots would make up their own minds over who they believed on the economy.

“George Mathewson has contributed more to the Scottish economy than probably any other single figure over the past 25 years,” he said.

“He headed the Scottish Development Agency, and helped build the Royal Bank up to be the fifth largest banking group in the world from a Scottish base.

“There is no contest as to who people will trust on the Scottish economy—an outstandingly successful businessman of the credibility and authority of Sir George Mathewson, or a Prime Minister who took the country to war on a false pretence and doesn’t even know how much the London Olympics will cost.”