Nicola Sturgeon has ruled out her government repeating the Tory tax cutting agenda she accused of "crashing the pound".
The First Minister launched a fresh attack on the economic strategy of Liz Truss - and warned some Scots were now "terrified" of their ability to heat their homes and pay their mortgages this winter.
The SNP leader also predicted huge cuts to public services could be made to pay for the UK Government's mini-budget. Tory Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng last week announced he would scrap the top rate of income tax for the highest earners in England and Wales.
It has prompted Scottish Conservatives to demand Sturgeon follows suit north of the Border - despite the value of the pound dropping to a 40-year low against the dollar in recent days.
It is widely expected that interest rates will sharply rise in the coming months as the UK Government tries to get a grip on soaring inflation. And the Bank of England was yesterday forced to intervene to prevent UK pension funds from collapsing.
Sturgeon told MSPs today: "People watching this session right now are terrified about the inability to hear their homes. The inability to pay their mortgages. And all week they have heard Douglas Ross demanding that I match Tory tax cuts for the richest people in our society.
"Tax cuts that have already sunk the pound, crashed the mortgage market, brought people's pensions to the brink of collapse, forced the Bank of England into an emergency bail-out, and force a deep reduction in public spending.
"I think people might have wanted to hear Douglas Ross today explain why he thinks the Scottish Government should emulate those policies. For the avoidance of doubt, we will not emulate these policies. But Douglas Ross's silence on his demands that we do so says everything about his poor, appalling judgement."
Anas Sarwar claimed the Tory Government at Westminster was "hell-bent on crashing the economy". He called on SNP ministers to back Keir Starmer's proposal to create a publicly-owned energy company.
The Scottish Labour leader added: "Energy bills rising, mortgage payments going up, and the markets in free fall. In the face of this economic illiteracy, and moral bankruptcy, Labour has a plan for a clean-energy generation company that will be established in the first year of a Labour government.
"It took the SNP months to support Labour proposals for a windfall tax - will the First Minister back Labour's plan to bring down bills and create jobs?"
Sturgeon said she was "happy to give support to policies of that nature". She added: "Perhaps Anas Sarwar would want to back a situation where Scotland had the full powers we would need over the energy market, and access to borrowing, that are necessary for us to establish an energy generation company."
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