Dodgy dossier on oil

SNP ‘cut and pasted’ case for North Sea fund from a study warning of pitfalls, say Tories

THE SNP was yesterday accused of using a ‘dodgy dossier’ to support its case for a Scottish oil fund.

Finance Secretary John Swinney last week claimed research showed there were ‘powerful’ economic reasons for putting North Sea oil revenues into a savings account.

But the Tories last night claimed the report contained large passages from an earlier civil service study that had highlighted a number of pitfalls in setting up an oil fund.

The Civil Service study, revealed in yesterday’s Scottish Daily Mail, warned such a fund would lead to higher taxes, a public spending cut or a rise in borrowing.

Mr Swinney yesterday claimed that his Fiscal Commission Working Group report had ‘overtaken’ the civil servants and that an oil fund could still be set up straight after independence.

But Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson challenged the claims by saying she had run both the Government’s internal report and the Fiscal Commission report through ‘university cheating software’.

She said that while whole sections supporting the SNP’s position were ‘cut and pasted’ into the Fiscal Commission’s report, key warnings about reductions to public services and more borrowing had been deleted.

Yesterday, she challenged the First Minister at Holyrood on why such concerns were omitted from the Fiscal Commission’s report.

She said: ‘The Scottish Government claims the content in the secret oil papers has been “overtaken” by the Fiscal Commission’s report on setting up an oil fund.

‘Yet, a simple analysis shows they have simply cut and pasted the good bits but thrown away all the bad bits they want to hide from the public – entire paragraphs on Scotland’s projected net fiscal debt, on the country’s debt interest payments and on notional borrowing costs.’

She added: ‘What Alex Salmond doesn’t want to tell the people of Scotland is that his plan for an oil fund under independence could result in either higher taxes or cuts to public services.

‘This dodgy dossier is a con trick and is yet another damning example of the First Minister saying anything and promising the Earth

‘We’ve found the smoking gun’

in order to further his separation dream.’

But Mr Salmond said: ‘Surely the whole point of having a Fiscal Commission of such prestige and authority is to take the advice they put forward and offer, and that is exactly what we have done. The Fiscal Commission had available to it the research which had been done by the Civil Service.

‘In common to both reports is an analysis of what would have happened over the past 40 years if Scotland had control of its own resources.

‘There is no difference in the two reports on that, and that is an analysis of the past,’

The Civil Service paper revealed in yesterday’s Mail, written by a top economic adviser to the Scottish Government, explains that Scotland has run a deficit for 20 of the past 21 years – even during the boom years.

It states that, had Scotland been i ndependent throughout that period, the oil revenues would have been required to fund vital public services such as the NHS, schools and policing.

The analysis, written for ministers in March last year but only published under Freedom of Information l egislation, concludes: ‘Given Scotland’s fiscal position since 1990, if the Scottish Government had adopted any of these rules in the past, there would have had to be an accompanying reduction in public spending, increase in taxation or higher borrowing to ensure that the public finances continued to balance.’

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said: ‘We’ve found the smoking gun.

‘SNP ministers are keeping a smile on for the cameras but, in private, they know that every penny of oil revenue would be needed to maintain current public spending commitments in an independent Scotland.’

COUNCILLORS have abandoned plans to fly the Union flag and the Saltire side by side on referendum day amid claims of ‘online hysteria’ stoked up by Nationalists. Two members – one Conservative and the other Labour – had suggested displaying both flags outside Stirling Council’s headquarters on September 18 next year.

At present, two flags are flown over the building – a conventional St Andrew’s cross and a modified Saltire featuring the lion rampant and emblems from the city’s coat of arms.

In a motion that was to be put before the council, the two members had suggested that both the Union flag and the modified Saltire be flown together.

But the plan stirred up a flurry of indignation, with opposition leaders bitterly condemning the move.

The motion, which had been set to go before the council last night, was signed by Labour’s Danny Gibson and Callum Campbell of the Conservatives. But they withdrew it yesterday amid claims of mounting ‘online hysteria’ from political opponents.

Mr Campbell said: ‘This debate has become distracted and undermined by the usual vitriolic tone of debate that Nationalists adopt.

‘Instead of focusing on the successes of the social, economic and political Union that are a bond that Nationalists want to cast aside, they decided to focus on a minor part of the motion that gets their supporters worked up.

‘I don’t want this motion to become a distraction from the real issues of uncertainty that the SNP are asking us to decide upon next year, so I have written to the Provost withdrawing my motion.’

Mr Gibson said: ‘We wanted a serious and mature debate about the future of our country but sadly this is not possible as an

‘Distracted and undermined’

atmosphere of negativity has developed. There is much to discuss with regards to Scotland’s place in the UK and the future of our country and the effect this will have on Stirling.’

The majority of councils north of the Border fly the Union flag on occasions such as royal birthdays, anniversaries, visits and other special events.

Labour-run Glasgow City Council has been targeted by fringe loyalist groups in recent months for flying the Saltire and has rejected offers for a new flagpole to allow both flags to be flown.

Stirling Council’s SNP group leader Graham Houston said: ‘We’re trying to save £24million and we’re going through a labour dispute with bins on the streets unemptied and the administration wants to debate flags.

‘ I am more than happy to discuss the referendum but to use their majority to fly a flag as part of their No campaign is ridiculous.’