Oil shows need to find solid growth

IT doesn’t take a genius to work out the Scottish economy desperately needs to move on from oil.

The public finances have taken a hammering in recent years as the price of a barrel plummeted.

Scotland generated £8billion in tax receipts from the North Sea in 2011-12. The equivalent figure last year was £208million.

Those figures don’t take into account the impact of the tens of thousands of job losses the industry has suffered since 2015.

So while the central point of Nicola Sturgeon’s speech on the economy was obvious, it’s still welcome to hear her say it.

The days of Aberdeen being an easy cash cow are over.

Oil will provide well-paid jobs and growth for years to come. New opportunities in decommissioning are also opening up with places like Dundee poised to capitalise.

But a rebalanced economy with a renewed focus on areas like hi-tech products and international exports is vital.

Sturgeon has another vested interest in ensuring this happens. The oil crash has killed the economic case for independence.

The Nationalists need significant economic growth to have any chance of making the numbers add up in any future referendum.

There is also a widespread feeling in the business community that Sturgeon has not been as sympathetic to the sector as her predecessor Alex Salmond.

Yesterday’s speech should go some way to shifting that perception.

But the fact remains the SNP have been in power 10 years.

This change in focus was long overdue and more concrete proposals must be brought forward with urgency.