Oil or nothing
THE north-east of Scotland, oil-rich, with a strong fishing heritage and a healthy scepticism of the European Union for four decades, is the place to watch in the Scottish election.
Nicola Sturgeon was in the region yesterday calling for a £1billion fund to help the area cope with the oil downturn.
She knows she has to win hearts and minds in the area to have any chance of booting out a raft of Tory MPs.
With the departure of Ruth Davidson as Tory leader, and more significantly the arrival of Boris Johnson, Tory candidates find themselves wedded to an unpopular leader who doesn’t play well in Scotland.
The hard-fought battle between the Conservatives and the SNP to claim the area as their own is going to be one of the key election battlegrounds.
NICOLA Sturgeon yesterday demanded that the Treasury hands over a £1billion oil fund to support a move to renewable energy.
The SNP leader said the Government’s figures suggest £8.5billion in revenue is coming over the next five years.
Scotland’s geographic share of offshore revenue was about £1.4billion last year.
Oil was central to the SNP’s economic case for independence in 2014 but prices collapsed shortly after the No vote in the IndyRef.
Campaigning with Aberdeen South SNP candidate Stephen Flynn, Sturgeon said: “The SNP has long argued that revenues from oil and gas should be invested for the long term, rather than to fund day-to-day spending.
“Westminster failed to set up an oil fund, where Norway’s is now worth one trillion dollars and is investing hugely in the low carbon economy.
“We should seize the opportunity to ensure we do not waste future revenues in the same way.”
Scottish Greens energy spokesman Mark Ruskell said the oil fund demand is “remarkably timid”.