Scottish independence: Scotland faces a huge black hole in its finances as the Scottish National Party stakes the country’s future on volatile markets of Oil and gas, the madness of the economic case by the Nationalists comes increasingly unhinged

Dear All

According to Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond there is supposed to be a “second energy windfall.”

And according to Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond there is supposed to be a second oil boom.

And according to Scotland’s ‘jolly fat man’ Alex Salmond there is supposed to be in an independent Scotland which can have a triple AAA rating.

In Salmond’s provincial mind, there is never anything bad with independence, like the loss of military shipbuilding, it is milk and honey, 24/7, nirvana for everyone and everyone gets their wishes granted.

If one audience is sold a line, the other audience with an opposing view is sold exactly what they want to hear, where is the credibility in that?

Alex Salmond is sounding increasingly more and more bizarre, trapped in his self dug hole, there is no escape, and no one to pull him out of it.

25.000 people are supposed to be SNP members, and no vision, no plans, no substance and no hope, it's a rather tacky campaign!  

The economic case for independence is falling apart, as Salmond grasps at straws, each day it is a new story when the realisation the previous one hasn’t worked on the public.

The SNP Government's case for building the economic future of an independent Scotland on oil and gas has been branded "absolute madness."

Salmond has reverted to the old failed strategy that ‘it’is Scotland’s Oil’ and will save us, it didn’t work in the past and it won’t work in the present.

Time for a quote by Alex Salmond:

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

Anyone still think that Scotland’s unpopular Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was a “superstar” at Health?

I doubt it, except for the weak minded perhaps.

The pro-UK campaign have seized on revised figures that show a cumulative downgrade in North Sea income of £11 billion over the coming decades.

Is there a plan for this?

No!

The entire independence campaign is based on nothing but spin, spin and more spin.

Typically, the Nationalists have reverted to saying that the No campaign are "talking Scotland down".

They aren’t they are asking the questions that internally the SNP members should have been asking of Salmond and Sturgeon, and didn’t.

The latest forecasts suggest oil and gas revenues will decline markedly.

Oil and gas are volatile markets, which cannot be banked on for future planning, steady income streams are required.

Is the renewable industry stable?

No, that isn’t either, it is just one long sham which has been presented to the Scottish people, minus any real detail.

Figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the UK Government's independent forecaster say:

“North Sea oil and gas receipts are on a long-term downward trend as the basin matures. At the same time, oil and gas revenues remain the most volatile of the main UK tax receipts. They depend on rates of production and extraction, the global dollar price of oil, the sterling/dollar exchange rate, and the level of capital and operating expenditure. And each of these determinants is relatively volatile in its own right."

Oil won’t last forever; and the public sector although a major employer is far too large a drain on resources, it needs major overhaul to create a sustainable system for both the end users and those employed there.  

Alistair Darling, of Better Together Campaign said:

"It is absolute madness for the SNP to base their case for separation around a commodity that is declining and volatile.”

 Labour MP, Margaret Curran, the Shadow Scottish Secretary, insisted:

"These forecasts expose the hole in the SNP's case for separation - It's just pure fantasy."

And the White Paper which will be seen as the White flag is to be written by a fiction writer, expecting War of Worlds, Birth of a Nation or how about Alex Salmond’s day off!

Is it the hot weather that is causing Salmond and Sturgeon to sound like a pair of buffoons?

Heath upon heat, upon more heat, plots have been lost, madness stalks the land, babbling is the new currency of the SNP.

Can the ‘Scottish Babble’ be linked to the pound?

Murdo Fraser, for the Scottish Conservatives, claims an independent Scotland would have a huge black hole to fill to pay for public services.

He added:

"Alex Salmond needs to come clean and say how this hole would be filled; by slashing spending or raising taxes, or both?"

Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary to the Treasury said:

"This would leave a massive gap in an independent Scotland's finances. Scotland is better off dealing with a volatile resource like oil in the UK, where together we can provide the long-term certainty on decommissioning relief that is helping to bring forward investment right now while managing both the fluctuations and the projected decline in revenues."

So, the writings of the wall, every day, brick by brick, stone by stone sees Alex Salmond’s backward campaign stuttering, coughing and failing to inspire, the independence corpse is trailing behind Salmond as he tries to hold up to the media. Sooner or later, it will get too heavy and even he will give up.

Salmond sounds rattled, he is on the back foot, the ‘retreat from Moscow’ has started; his career is fading fast.

The only second Oil boom at the present time is the hate generated by Alex Salmond’s cybernats; that is the Oil that keeps the SNP moving.  

Yours sincerely

George Laird

The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University