More than about oil

Dear Editor Re Mr Dawson’s letter ‘The sum of the total’ News, July 13. He is correct in saying that our debt may rise because of the global slump in oil price, the forecast is for oil prices to start rising in September 2016, but we have a more diverse economy than just oil.

Scotland is rated 14th lowest debt/ GDP (%) on a table of 162 countries, hardly the huge deficit quoted in his letter. His predictions of the fate awaiting Scotland on independence are exactly that, predictions, fiction. The only fact is that we heard it all before.

Scotland and Greece cannot be compared because the Greek debt/ GDP is 175 per cent, 22.4 times our debt/GDP (%).

Upon independence we would control all the levers of our economy in order to follow policies that are the most advantageous for Scotland and grow the economy.

Assuming Scotland would get a “geographical share” based on the current median line principal (as used by all other North Sea oil producers) it would mean about 90 per cent of the UK’s oil resources would be under Scottish jurisdiction, Westminster would love that.

Sir Nicholas McPherson, the expermanent secretary to the Treasury (the no monetary union man in 2014) wrote in the FT that “Brexit was a golden opportunity for independence supporters to rethink monetary policy and an extraordinary opportunity to attract inward investment”. He suggested that we should remain in the EU to access the largest market in the world; Edinburgh would attract financial companies to relocate for access the EU market. He also recommended a Central Bank and a Scottish pound shadowing the UK pound initially.