Dennis Healey, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Labour, admitted in 2013 that Labour had underplayed the value of Scottish oil, he even campaigned against setting up an oil fund similar to Norway’s.
the pace of development of North Sea oil appropriate for Scotland would be very different from that now being demanded by the UK. Apart from the need to avoid piling up excessive surpluses, Scotland would wish to extend her North Sea oil revenue over a much longer period than the 30 or so years
McCrone report
Under a Freedom of Information request, the McCrone report was released in 2005.
Here are some highlights:
Scotland would 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).
‘the Scottish pound be seen as a good hedge against inflation and devaluation and the Scottish banks could expect to find themselves inundated with a speculative inflow of foreign funds.’ (page 8).
‘An exchange rate of £1 Scots to 120p sterling within two years of independence therefore seems quite probable’ (page 9).
It’s our view that a similar report could be prepared today, with similar conclusion, on the basis of Scotland’s immense potential as a source of Renewable Energy. Alba’s Kenny MacAskill has highlighted this repeatedly, with no answer from the Scottish Government nor the UK.
Kenny makes the point that Scottish Wind licences were sold off at a fraction of their true value, based on international comparisons. Will the intentionally reduced value from this travesty be used to once again fool Scotland into thinking our resources – and our country – are worthless?
Think of this – Scotland may run out of oil, be we won’t ever run out of wind!
That’s a source of revenue for our future.
It’s Scotland’s Energy!
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!
You can download the McCrone report here, or the original typescript here.
