Scottish independence: Newsnight Scotland presenter Gordon Brewer tears apart SNP Minister Fergus Ewing who can’t even answer basic questions on what the criteria would be of setting up an Oil Fund, Brewer says ‘people have a right to know’!

Dear All

Did you catch Newsnight Scotland last night?

Gordon Brewer torn apart SNP Minister Fergus Ewing, he couldn’t even answer what the criteria was for setting up an Oil Fund.

Time for a quote from Alex Salmond:

“My problem is that I have too many talented people and not enough Cabinet positions”.

Gordon Brewer slaughtered him, if Fergus Ewing and Alex Salmond think babbling nonsense will win indy they are kidding themselves on.

Ewing kept saying the word “appropriate”, so no plan, and no details of what the criteria would be, is there anyone so stupid as to buy into this left in Scotland?

The answer is yes, the sycophants who think they will benefit from the SNP via taxpayer funds.

As part of the strategy to be seen as competent, Salmond is now saying an independent Scotland would take on the UK's £20 billion pledge to help with the cost of decommissioning North Sea oil rigs.

Is that factored in anywhere?

And if it is; when is the date that the Oil Fund would be created, when would it generate revenue?

These are all serious questions, because in the meantime, the financial black hole would have to be filled by the SNP by either higher taxes or cuts to services, or both!

Alex Salmond isn’t even pledging to raise the tax for big Oil companies, which means shortfalls would have to be picked up by the Scottish taxpayers.

Announcing the new report, Salmond said:

"Scotland has been blessed with unrivalled natural resources and communities around the country should benefit from them. Oil and gas revenues would offer a premium advantage for an independent Scotland – a tremendous bonus to boost any diverse modern economy."

The head of the pro-UK Better Together campaign has responded by calling on Alex Salmond to withdraw claims made in a BBC interview that the £1.5trillion of untapped North Sea oil was ­equivalent to "£300,000 for every man, woman and child in Scotland".

Alistair Darling said:

"For Alex Salmond to treat us like fools by deliberately confusing the wholesale value of oil with the amount we would actually raise through tax is fundamentally dishonest."

Scottish Labour's Iain Gray said the report was an attempt to "de-risk the referendum" while

Scots Tory finance spokesman Gavin Brown said it failed to present future tax projections.

In trying to raise themselves their sinking independence ship, no real attempt has been made to even patch up the keel. It is another disastrous piece of spin which is based on a promise that might happen at sometime in the future but no one knows.

Last night the Scottish National Party found out yet again that there isn’t any real talent in Alex Salmond’s Cabinet.

Gordon Brewer easily picked apart Fergus Ewing, and he is the Energy Minister, he should have had all the answers, he had nothing but bluster and spin.

The No vote in my opinion has received another boost, if you can’t even get the criteria out of the SNP, then you know that there is no plan, just like there is no plan for anything.

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University