‘Be prepared’ for fallacious UK arguments

Sir, – In his letter to the Courier on March 11, Les Mackay describes the abysmal handling of North Sea oil riches by successive Westminster governments.

He rightly illuminates their incompetence, but does not mention their outright deceit when it came to hiding the potential wealth from the Scottish populace.

In 1975, at the start of the oil extraction, Professor McCrone wrote a report detailing the possible oil wealth that would accrue to an independent Scotland.

This report was kept secret for 30 years by the Westminster governments precisely because they realised it would massively encourage the drive for independence.

Similarly, prior to the 2014 referendum, the Unionists downplayed the reserves of oil around Scotland, saying they were practically exhausted, when this was known to be incorrect.

Now we have the figures from the Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) that appear to prove that Scotland is a fiscal basket case.

These figures are compiled by Scottish civil servants from data supplied by the UK Government and were originally conceived to show Scotland’s economics in the worst possible light. There have been some modifications to their compilation, but as it says on the GERS homepage: “The primary objective is to estimate a set of public sector accounts for Scotland through detailed analysis of official UK and Scottish Government finance statistics.

“GERS estimates the contribution of revenue raised in Scotland toward the goods and services provided for the benefit of the people of Scotland.”

Note the use of the words “estimate” and “official UK (statistics)”. They cannot give accurate figures because there is no Scottish

Statistics Office to gather the correct figures.

The standard of accuracy of the GERS figures can be deduced from the fact that, with just 8% of the UK’s population, Scotland is supposed to be responsible for 54% of the UK’s annual deficit.

This is plainly a ridiculous figure, patently produced to undermine belief in an independent Scotland’s viability.

The Westminster government will leave no stone unturned in their hunt for fallacious arguments to hold on to Scotland. Be prepared. Tony Perridge. 29 Attadale Road, Inverness.