WILLIE Rennie has come under attack after trying to taking credit for Scotland’s new income tax system – despite most of his MSPs voting against it.

The LibDem leader was accused of “living in a parallel universe” following comments he made during his address at his party’s Spring conference yesterday.

He told delegates at Aviemore his party had been influential and listed a host of policy areas.

“We have set the agenda in Scotland in so many areas” he said. “Just listen to the list. Free school meals for young children. Funding for superfast broadband. The first renewable energy targets. Fuel duty cuts for rural areas and support for island ferries. We persuaded the government to reverse some of the most damaging cuts to colleges ... On tax we were the first party to propose a progressive use of new tax powers. First opposed and now accepted by the SNP.”

The Scottish Greens – who first suggested a new system of income tax rates and bands – and who supported the Scottish Government’s budget plans, were furious.

“The parallel universe of the Lib Dems never ceases to amaze. They are deluded if they think the fairer income tax system Scotland now has had anything to do with them,” a spokesman said. “They spent years demanding tax rises on low earners, and personal allowance rises which benefit the wealthy. They never showed a hint of support for the fairer multi-band system we proposed, and they voted against it when we won the argument with the SNP.”

He added: “While Greens are getting on with making Scotland fairer, Lib Dems are rolling out the red carpet for Tory austerity cheerleader Sir Vince Cable.”

Rennie continued to underline his party’s opposition to independence, rejecting it both in his conference address and in an interview with Holyrood magazine. “If you are looking for the timing of another independence referendum, how about, saying, ‘once in a generation’? Or even ‘once in a lifetime’? Or better still just say ‘no, it’s time for our country to move on from the division of independence’,” he told delegates as he attacked the focus in the SNP depute leadership race on the timing for a second independence referendum.

He told Holyrood: “We’re a party that won’t support independence, we think it’s divided the country in a way that has been deeply damaging ... so we’ll use every opportunity to ensure we can stop that.”