This is amazing, readers. It’s an extract from this afternoon’s The Big Debate on Radio Scotland, in which a journalist – the BBC’s Gordon Brewer – finally gets round to asking someone from Scottish Labour how they can make the extra £500m they need to fund their tax-credits “policy” while keeping all taxes the same.

The answer… well, the answer is quite something.

(The Big Debate, BBC Radio Scotland, 6 November 2015)

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You might have to listen through a few times to get your head round it, because that really is what a grown woman actually tried to get away with in front of a live audience.

We’ll transcribe Baillie’s comments, as it helps a bit to see the madness written down.

“They don’t need to find extra money in the sense that it’s over and above what’s existing, but they do need to find money to effect the tax cut itself, and in finding that money, so it releases a pot that we can use differently. We’ve had the accountants check over this -“

At this point Brewer interjects to point out the face-punchingly obvious fact this site’s been highlighting for a week – that if you don’t make any changes to how things are now, you don’t create any extra money.

“But you would need to find the money to implement the cut that you’re due to make, and it is that released money that we would use in a different way.”

Brewer tries again, noting once more that if you’re not making a change you get no more money and have to find the savings to fund the policy from somewhere else.

“Okay, in the case of Air Passenger Duty, let me explain that. If you take a tax cut, you’re going to have to find the money that you would have brought in, in order to carry on with delivering the services that you’re gonna deliver. By finding that money you release it, that we can reallocate for a different purpose. We have checked this with the Scottish Parliament Information Centre, we’ve checked, y’know, one, the maths for this, we’ve checked whether we have the power, because of course you’ll recall in the Parliament [blah blah SNP BAD] We have checked, we have checked all our workings out separately.”

Brewer gave up at that point. But it’s all clear: Scottish Labour have run this past “the accountants”, they’ve checked it with SPICe, they’ve checked all the maths and the powers and they’ve concluded that to find the money what you have to do is find the money. And in finding the money the money will be found, which releases it, which proves that you’ve found it (by finding it) and can then spend it.

(Even though you haven’t cut anything and you haven’t taxed anyone. Nobody has paid any extra anywhere, but half a billion pounds has just appeared out of thin air.)

We suspect Scottish Labour may be using the same firm of accountants as Rangers did until 2012. Does anyone remember how that one panned out?