Oil price slump sparks referendum war of words

The Conservative candidate for Rutherglen has called for the SNP to apologise for “deceiving” voters over oil revenues prior to last September’s referendum on Scottish independence.

Figures released by the Office for Budget Responsibility yesterday revealed a further collapse of the revenues to an estimated £130million.

Taylor Muir said: “These new oil figures only serve to demonstrate the shocking scale of the SNP’s deceit before the referendum.

“Everyone can now see that Scotland is more able to invest in the schools in our area and addressing the problems at Glasgow’s super hospital because we pool and share resources across the UK.

“The SNP continue to campaign for independence and full fiscal autonomy despite the overwhelming evidence that it would weaken Scotland’s economy.”

SNP candidate Clare Haughey said: “I think the Tories are the ones who must apologise over Scotland’s oil revenues.

“Mr Muir’s party should be utterly embarrassed that they did not save a single penny of our oil receipts during their terms in government over the last 40 years.

“The Scottish Government’s oil price forecasts were in line with many other international projections, whilst the UK Government themselves forecast even higher oil prices.”