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ANTI-Scottish loudmouth Kelvin MacKenzie was last night slammed over his latest rant - in which he claimed Scots owed their jobs to the English.

MacKenzie - previously reported to police over his anti-Scottish views - lashed out in his new column in a London-based newspaper.

The Daily Mail failed to publish the article in their Scottish edition.

MacKenzie wrote: "That great lump of Scottish lard Alex Salmond - he's put on 20lb in the past five years - was claiming on the BBC news that a minute fall in unemployment over the Border was down to his policies.

"Has he been on the Charles Kennedy lotion? The fact that anybody is in work in Scotland is due almost entirely to the wealth created by clever and resourceful people in England."

The ex-Sun editor, who has a Scottish grandfather, is notorious for his outspoken views. He was reported to police in 2007 for claiming Scots scrounge off the south of England during an appearance on the BBC's Question Time.

Last night, Alex Salmond's spokesman said: "Kelvin MacKenzie is spouting his usual brand of anti-Scottish nonsense, which is obviously too embarrassing to publish in Scotland.

"The reality is Scotland more than pays her way and will be better off with independence.

"The official figures show Scotland has been in a stronger financial position than the UK as a whole for each of the last five years.

"Scotland generates 9.4 per cent of UK tax with 8.4 per cent of the population - the equivalent of £1000 extra for every man, woman and child in Scotland.

"Scotland's economy is also outperforming the rest of the UK, with lower unemployment and higher employment.

"Over the last year, Scottish unemployment has fallen by 33,000, while it has increased UK-wide by 44,000."

Scottish Labour deputy leader Johann Lamont said: "Mr MacKenzie has reinvented his career by producing this type of offensive comment passing as journalism.

"It is no wonder this anti-Scottish bile only appeared in the English edition of the newspaper. Unfortunately, the way the SNP keep up a tirade of gripe and grievance against the Westminster Government only serves to attract this type of counter-attack."

In his column yesterday, MacKenzie claimed Scots receive 19 per cent more state money per head than the English.

He added: "I don't want to keep paying. I suggest we bring the clever folk from Israel who put the wall around their country and get them to do the same for Scotland.

"Then we can give the Scots independence and perhaps suggest they merge their currency with Greece.

"We could call it the Skinto."