NEW RELEASED PAPERS REVEAL UK "DECEIT AND DESPERATION" OVER SCOTLAND'S OIL.

NEW RELEASED PAPERS REVEAL UK "DECEIT AND DESPERATION" OVER SCOTLAND'S OIL.

SNP Treasury Spokesman Stewart Hosie MP has described the latest
revelations of the lengths to which both Labour and Conservative
Government’s went to keep Scotland from her oil wealth as showing the
level of “deceit and desperation” in the UK Government.

New archive material in today’s Times reveal plans to delay devolution, to
manipulate the politics of Shetland and Orkney and to redraw offshore
boundaries.

Commenting on the papers Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie said;

“The UK Government has conspired to keep Scotland from her oil wealth and
her independence for over 30 years.

“These new revelations of plots and plans to change the border, delay
devolution and manipulate the position of Shetland and Orkney expose the
lengths to which successive UK Government’s have gone.

“There is now a long list of deceitful steps taken by the Labour and Tory
Governments that have deprived the Scottish people of years of future
wealth.

“Where we now see a UK Government dragging Scotland into recession and
cutting Scotland's funding to pay for their record levels of debt Norway’s
oil fund is worth over £200 billion and is not just supporting Norway’s
economy but is helping Norway support it’s neighbours.

“That Gordon Brown is now being advised on the financial crisis by one of
the mandarins behind these plans only adds to the bittersweet irony of
these revelations.

“It is no wonder there is less trust in the UK Government than in Scottish
politicians.

“As recent figures have shown an independent Scotland with her oil and gas
reserves would move from being Europe’s 10th wealthiest nation to Europe’s
third wealthiest nation.

“As Labour and Tory politicians knew at the time – Scots could have seen
income 25-30% higher over the last 30 years.

“We should not let the deceits and desperation of Labour and Tories in
years gone by stop Scotland standing up and claiming what is rightfully
hers for the future.

“That’s why the SNP Governmment will bring a referendum bill forward and
the Scottish people must be given their opportunity to vote for
independence in 2010.”

More background information here,

The latest revelations can be found at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article5728477.ece Oil Funds Norwegian Oil Fund – Now over £200 billion Alberta Oil Fund – £8.8 billion (May 2008) Alaskan Oil Fund – £19 billion (March 2008) “The example of Norwegian policy on Government revenue from oil likewise shows up the failure of British.” McCrone report Page 5 Information released in 2002 under the 30-year publication rule showed that Edward Heath rejected the establishment of a Scottish Oil Fund made up of North Sea revenues because such a call was based on a "nationalistic premise", Malcolm Wicks, Energy Minister The Guardian, 27 October 2007. "In the Norwegian sector of the oil field, where many of the crew had worked as well, the industry is organised somewhat differently . . . the tax revenues have been husbanded rather than spent by the government. 'If you could replay history, the idea as in Norway of building up a national [oil] fund is actually quite an attractive one'." North Sea Production Academics interviewed for the BBC have pointed to their being 30 billion barrels of oil left in the North Sea. 37 billion barrels have been removed over the last 30 years. Professor Peter O'Dell, of the Erasmus University in the Netherlands, "There are at least 20, 25 even 30 billion barrels of the stuff left and that's quite a lot," "It's not quite as much as we've used already but it's not far short. "Moreover, there are still parts of UK Continental Shelf that have never been examined at all in any great depth. "So that could be the low end of a range that could take us into a period when we have access to as much oil again as we've already used." The McCrone Report, 1975 “What is quite clear is that the balance of payments gain from North Sea oil would easily swamp the existing deficit whatever its size and transform Scotland into a country with a substantial and chronic surplus.” Page 6 “The country would tend to be in chronic surplus to a quite embarrassing degree and its currency would become the hardest in Europe, with the exception perhaps of the Norwegian kroner.” Page 8 “An independent Scotland could now expect to have massive surpluses both on its budget and on its balance of payments and with the proper husbanding of resources this situation could last for a very long time into the future.” Page 16 “Thus, for the first time since the Act of Union was passed, it can now be credibly argued that Scotland’s economic advantage lies in its repeal.” Page 16 “Britain is now counting so heavily on North Sea oil to redress its balance of payments that it is easy to imagine England in dire straits without it … it is now likely that transfer of North Sea oil to Scottish ownership would occasion much bitterness in England if not an attempt to forcibly prevent it.” Page 17