SCOTTISH Tory MP Kirstene Hair has been accused of “peddling fake news” after she attempted to blame nationalists for a policy introduced by her own government.

Last autumn, the government freed fire and police forces in Scotland from the obligation to pay VAT, which had imposed extra spending constraints on emergency services. Other parts of Britain were already exempt.

Angus MP Ms Hair tweeted: “Thankfully, Scottish Tories ended the SNP policy that saw our fire service pay VAT.”

But SNP MP Kirsty Blackman said it was the Tory government at Westminster that had levied the tax in the first place.

“For Kirstene Hair MP to claim that it was SNP policy that levied VAT on fire services in Scotland is utter nonsense,” Ms Blackman said.

“It is simply peddling fake news. Either Ms Hair has a lack of understanding on the issue or she is purposely misleading people — which is it?”

Ms Hair has previously caused controversy by admitting that she did not vote in the EU referendum because it posed such a difficult choice.