SCOTLAND’S Oil is back! Forecasts of £13bn oil revenues this year have put a spring in nationalist steps. Fossil fuels have closed the GERS fiscal gap and the independence numbers add up once again, according to John Swinney.
But what about keeping it in the ground? This time last year Nicola Sturgeon was collecting selfies with Saint Greta and greenwashing capitalists at COP26 and promising to abandon fossil fuels altogether.
Cambo no more she declared. Jackdaw no more. Rosebank no more. Big Oil no more – except, it seems, for the oil revenues generated by the wicked capitalists. Is the economic case for independence once again based on “destroying the planet”?
The SNP leader’s green fundamentalism has come back to bite her on the derriere.
She cannot in all seriousness go back to basing the economic case for independence on a source of energy which she has denounced and on oil companies that she has demonised as profiteering climate deniers.
Yet the run up to next year’s independence referendum, if it happens, will be dominated by Yes campaigners claiming that there’s still 20 billion barrels of Scotland’s Oil and that it’s being stolen by Westminster. As in the 2014 campaign, oil is the only way to make the economics of independence stack up.
Get this analysis directly to your inbox by signing up to The Herald's political newsletter, Unspun, for FREE and unrivalled political analysis in your inbox every day at 6pm.
“Want to be part of a rich country?” said those Yes Scotland leaflets showing oil rigs and Norway’s oil fund. They didn’t depict Scots as tartan sheiks, as the SNP did in the 1970s but it wasn’t far off.
The coalition with the Scottish Greens is beginning to look like a cynical sham. Green ministers Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater cannot surely remain in the Scottish Government after this lurch back to fossil fuel triumphalism.
The SNPs coalition partners are dedicated to halting oil and gas production altogether. Stop oil, they say, just stop. Keep It In the Ground.
There is already grumbling in the Green party over their leaders’ involvement with the Scottish Government. If they swallow this they’ll be seen as collaborators.
As some of us pointed out at the time of the Green/SNP coalition, the SNP is a hydrocarbons party. Scotland’s Oil is in its DNA. Older SNP members always thought it was nonsense to dismiss this valuable natural resource and the many jobs in oil and gas.
Most nationalists accept the science of climate change and support the transition to net zero. But it was politically inept to suggest that we could do without fossil fuels any time soon. The International Energy Authority says we will need them for the next 35 years at least.
So why import oil and gas from Saudi Arabia if there’s still hydrocarbon reserves in Scottish waters?
Norway never made that mistake. It is held up as a paragon of sustainability yet is now drilling in the Arctic. The energy crisis has exposed the hypocrisy of greenwashing governments.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel