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WILLIAM Hague yesterday admitted he was wrong to say devolution would turn Scotland into a ghetto – and said Scots had proved “much more resilient” than he’d imagined.

The Foreign Secretary campaigned against the creation of the Scottish Parliament.

And an interview from the time came back to haunt him as he tried to make his mark on the independence debate on a visit to Glasgow.

Hague was Tory leader during the devolution referendum and in August 1997 he predicted: “Five years into a Scottish Parliament, Scots will be disappointed, disillusioned, depressed and living in a high-tax ghetto.”

Challenged on the quote by the Daily Record yesterday, he admitted history had proved him wrong.

He said: “We have all been right and wrong about lots of things in the past. Thankfully, Scots have been proved much more resilient than might have been said in 1997 and I am delighted about that.

“But of course, this is a bigger question even than the question at that time.

“We are getting facts clear and that is perhaps a bit different to all those vigorous debates in 1997.”

Hague claimed families could be more than £200 a year worse off under independence due to an EU funding shortfall.

He said Government figures proved Scotland would not only lose its share of the £5billion EU rebate but would also have to pay towards funding it for the rump UK left behind.

The Treasury claim this could cause a £3.8billion black hole in the country’s finances over the first seven years.

Tories claim the analysis is another European headache for Alex Salmond.

The First Minister has endured constant attack over the impact on ordinary Scots of an independent Scotland’s uncertain EU status.

And Hague said Scotland re-entering Europe as an independent state would mean Scots “paying more and getting less”.

The Tory minister said it was “inconceivable” that other EU members would allow Scotland to keep our share of the rebate negotiated by Margaret Thatcher as no other country has received a similar deal.

Thatcher negotiated a rebate deal with the EU to compensate for “overpayments” made to the Common Agricultural Policy, which subsidied farming.

Hague said: “If part of a member state leaves the EU, it has to reapply for membership and that will be a process of uncertain length and unknown outcome and probably great cost.”

Hague defended “lecturing” Scots on independence despite PM David Cameron’s refusal to take part in a TV debate.

He said: “As ministers in the UK, indeed as citizens of the UK, we all have an interest in this.”

But Hague’s comments were dismissed by Yes Scotland chief executive Blair Jenkins. He said: “It is extraordinary that Cameron, who is directing the No campaign and whose government is funding anti-independence analysis papers to try to scare us into voting No, is unwilling to debate with the First Minister.”