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CON-DEM spin doctors shielded David Cameron from Scotland’s voters yesterday while Alex Salmond was answering the public’s questions and posing for selfies with supporters.

Cameron’s “charm offensive” trip north with his Cabinet – minus George Osborne – was stage managed to the last detail, with no access to the Prime Minister for ordinary people or Scots papers.

He seemed keen to avoid awkward questions on the bedroom tax, Atos fit-for-work tests and his other deeply unpopular policies.

But he couldn’t dodge yet another taunting from Salmond about his refusal to debate face to face on independence.

Salmond arrived by minibus for a meeting of his Cabinet at Portlethen, just five miles from where Cameron and the rest of the Con-Dem Cabinet met at Shell HQ at Altens in Aberdeen.

The First Minister held a question and answer session at the local church hall for 300 members of the public – and began by mocking Cameron and his brief venture into Scotland.

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Salmond joked: “If at any point David Cameron walks in, I’m available for this debate.

“I’m here, I’m ready, I’m willing. Let’s exploit this geographical coincidence to pursue the debate so many people in Scotland want to see.”

Salmond also noted that Cameron’s schedule left no room for “public discussion or access”.

And he said: “It does seem a wasted opportunity, not just for the First Minister and the Prime Minister to debate, but to have people from this area question the UK Cabinet.”

An aide added: “The contrast couldn’t have been greater – a Scottish cabinet listening to ordinary people and a Westminster cabinet that jetted in and out without so much as a by-your-leave.

“It’s bad enough for David Cameron to duck a debate with the First Minister, but to dodge the Scottish public speaks volumes.”

Cameron’s attempted “lovebombing” of Scotland began with a morning visit to an offshore oil rig, followed by the afternoon Cabinet meeting at Shell.

Con-Dem ministers also travelled to other parts of the country to try to spread the pro-Union message.

Cameron did short TV interviews but decided not to face newspaper reporters.

It was left to UK Education Secretary Michael Gove, a Scot returning to the city where he grew up, to deny that the Cabinet had flown in to lecture Scotland.

(Image: PA)

Gove conceded that critics said Cameron was “feart” after he chose to make this month’s set-piece plea for the Union from the Olympic Park in London.

And he added: “If you come to Scotland for whatever length of time, people will say it’s a peremptory visit or you’re flying in and out.

“But I’ve been here four days myself and the Prime Minister is regularly here to work, rest and play. So the fact people make a process criticism is a way of avoiding the substance of the debate.

“And the substance has been put very well by the PM today.”

Cameron used his visit to claim that an independent Scotland would find it hard to exploit the North Sea’s oil reserves.

He promised to fast-track recommendations from retired oil boss Sir Ian Wood for new measures to make sure £200billion worth of difficult-to-extract oil is harvested from the North Sea in the next 20 years.

And he claimed the UK, with its “broad shoulders”, was better placed to succeed.

Cameron said: “Because we are a top 10 economy, we can afford the tax allowances, the investment, the long-term structure necessary to make sure we recover as much from the North Sea as possible.”

Salmond dismissed his claims as “hooey” and said an independent Scotland would do a far better job in the North Sea than Westminster had ever done.

Cameron said he brought his Cabinet north because he wanted to hold meetings in “every part of the United Kingdom”.

He added: “I profoundly believe the United Kingdom will be better off if we all stay together. The choice has to be for people in Scotland, but I think it’s important to lay out all the arguments of the benefits of staying together.”

While Cameron was putting his case, Osborne was nearly 7000 miles away on Government business in Singapore.

A Salmond aide suggested the Chancellor had been “told to stay as far from Scotland as possible, given the public backlash to his arrogant ‘Sermon on the Pound’”.

Osborne came to Edinburgh this month to warn Scots there would be no currency union with the UK after independence.

Pollsters said his words, echoed by Labour and the Lib Dems, appeared to have boosted the Yes vote.