I had hoped for a review of the impact on the finances of our country if the vote had been Yes a year ago (Referendum special: one year on, September 13).
In May, 2014, the Scottish Government’s own forecast for North Sea oil and gas for the next five years was that revenue would be as high as £38.7bn. This June they reduced it to a range of £2.4bn to £10.8bn. The Office of Budget Responsibility now concludes it would be wise to plan for nothing from 2020 onwards.
Without North Sea Oil revenue Scotland had a Greek-style budget deficit in GDP of 12.2% in 2013/14, this year the UK as a whole will have 4%. Austerity? We’ve seen nothing yet.
An independent Scotland is financially unviable.
Peter Watson
Pitlochry
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