(c) filmrise.com

I’ve just posted this wee extract from Energy Voice to show how the GERS figures might have been headlined in MSM headlines. Here’s a wee bit of what they said:

‘Scotland’s deficit has been cut to £13.3billion over the past year. Much is due to positive developments in the oil sector. Oil receipts rose for the first time since 2011, growing from £56million in 2015-16 to £208million in 2016-17, according to the latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (Gers) figures.’

Needless to say you don’t want to read on, as Nicola tamely accepts we need to do better and for reasons I am not clearly not party to, doesn’t mention it would have been a whole lot better if the oil majors had been taxed the way every other producing country did and we’d have had no debt at all. Apologies if I’m overdoing this link but the story really needs to be spread on this scandal.

Re-post: A ploy to undermine the case for Scottish independence as Oil companies making more at $50 per barrel than they did at £100 per barrel yet the UK Government is not taxing them.

https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/148452/scotlands-debts-cut-black-gold-boosts-coffers/

© sbnn.co.uk

Isn’t that simply stunning? Is there a sight like that anywhere else? There certainly isn’t in the UK. There’s no individual credit for the shot but well done to the photographer.

In a piece by the Scottish Business News Network, we hear that Visit Scotland has put together a ‘free industry toolkit’ to help businesses take advantage of the new crossing. Here’s an extract that makes the main points:

‘Ahead of next week’s official opening of the world’s longest three-tower, cable-stayed bridge, VisitScotland has created a free industry toolkit to help accommodation providers, tour companies and visitor attractions use the Queensferry Crossing in their marketing. As well as a selection of stunning images and footage, the toolkit includes content for social media posts and newsletters and factsheets.’

There will also be a blog with advice to photographers on how to capture the best views for their businesses’ advertising literature. Of course, it’s not just the new bridge but this unique trilogy of bridges that will make the views stunning and seductive for tourists across the globe.

According to Visit Scotland: ‘Scotland becomes the world’s first destination to have three bridges spanning three centuries in one stunning location.’

I’ll have to take their word for that. Anyone know otherwise? Newcastle has five I think but they’re much less impressive.

https://sbnn.co.uk/2017/08/23/visitscotland-toolkit-will-help-industry-capitalise-queensferry-crossing/

(c) samaa.tv

As US crude stockpiles fall, the value of North Sea oil remains well within the range where the oil majors are making big profits and should be further increasing the revenue from the Scottish fields. Even in the discredited GERS figures oil revenues were up though it’s clear they should have been much higher:

Re-post: A ploy to undermine the case for Scottish independence as Oil companies making more at $50 per barrel than they did at £100 per barrel yet the UK Government is not taxing them.

Why were tens of billions in oil revenues lost by UK government? Would they have made Scotland seem too wealthy in September 2014?

Today’s report in Energy Voice further reinforces confidence in the market for Scotland’s oil as all the signs point to shortages and price rises of quite dramatic nature by 2020.

Independent Scotland’s oil wealth is assured as Aramco chief predicts huge shortages

Will Scotland’s oil hit $100 (or more?) a barrel again after 2020?

We have to hope we’ve begun the process of claiming the revenues for Scotland by then.

https://www.energyvoice.com/marketinfo/148477/oil-climbs-stockpile-drop-allays-worries-summers-end/

See Richard Murphy’s demolition of GERS:

http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2017/08/24/my-evidence-to-the-scottish-parliament-on-gers/

 

 

As the North Sea and West of Shetland fields move into a Third Wave of wealth generation with prices confidently expected to rise to between $70 and $100 per barrel by 2020, the Scottish Government is playing its part by investing strategically.

Livingston-based Scaled Solutions will receive £2.2 million:

‘The R&D project will enable the company to develop new testing services that will address knowledge and technology gaps in corrosion and scaling mechanisms. The company will grow its staff at its Scottish base over the next three years by a third, with 17 of the 19 newly-created jobs in R&D.’

https://news.gov.scot/news/gbp-5m-oil-and-gas-investment

This is not the first time the Scottish Government has invested strategically to develop knowledge and skills that Scottish companies can then use win contracts in and beyond the North Sea. See:

Scotland’s oil and gas expertise earned £11.4 billion in 2015/2016 supported by Scottish Government investment

As Scottish Oil and Gas moves into a third wave of prosperity, Scottish Government funding for innovation is increased

Evidence that it is paying off can also be found. See:

Scotland’s oil and gas extraction expertise continues to earn millions

So, getting on with the job, I’d say.

Our ‘notional’ deficit has been welcomed gleefully by those prominent ‘Scots’ who’d rather see their own country done down than break free. It is of course notional in two senses. First, it’s based on estimates and second we can’t actually have a deficit as we’re not independent and responsible for it. It’s the UK deficit and as you know that derives from the UK’s massive trade deficit and consequent loan payments not to mention it’s imperialist foreign policy costs which we wouldn’t have either or the fact that Westminster failed to collect tax revenue on North Sea oil for several years before and since the Referendum. Wonder why? You’ll also remember Scotland doesn’t have a trade deficit [see link below] and so doesn’t deserve to have a share of the debt repayments added to its figures.

However, even if we accepted the GERS figures the Unionist media headlines could have been more positive. See this headline from the Scottish Business News Network.

‘The latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures show Scotland’s fiscal position improved in 2016-17.’

Here is an extract from the report:

‘Overall, the notional deficit fell by £1.3 billion in 2016-17 to stand at 8.3% of GDP. Onshore revenues increased by £3.3 billion (6.1%) between 2015-16 and 2016-17 – the fastest increase since current records began in 1998-99 – while North Sea revenue also grew.’

FM Sturgeon was also quoted in the article:

‘Scotland’s economy remains strong. In the last quarter, our economy grew nearly four times faster than the UK and the number of people in employment is at a record high. These figures reflect Scotland’s finances under current constitutional arrangements. However, they show that our investment in key industries – such as the life-science sector – is providing a real boost to our onshore economy. By continuing to invest in key sectors, we will ensure Scotland remains a productive and competitive country.’

She’s too polite [not combative enough?] to mention the ‘defence’ costs or the oil revenue fiasco and she’s a bit obscure on the issue of whose fault the deficit might be for my taste but then one of my readers has just labelled me a ‘brutal realist.’ I am certainly the second part.

England ran a massive trade deficit in 2014 and 2015 too. Scotland had an even greater surplus in those years. Who knows how much we’ve been subsidising the UK balance of payments and reducing debt over the years?

Why were tens of billions in oil revenues lost by UK government? Would they have made Scotland seem too wealthy in September 2014?

https://sbnn.co.uk/2017/08/23/scotlands-fiscal-position-improves-tax-revenue-grows-a

Newsquest (Herald & Times) Ltd, owner of The Herald and Evening Times, reports annual profits dropped 44% to £4.8 million in the 2016 year to 25 December. Average daily sales for the Herald were a mere 28 900. Wings over Scotland attracts around 300 000!

It must be only a matter of time until the parent company Newsquest Ltd dumps it and, hopefully, David Torrance will lose his captive audience for anti-independence drivel. The Scotsman is in an even worse situation with less than 20 000 daily sales. Even I have had nearly 10 000 on a few rare days and my publishing budget is SFA.

BBC Scotland News won’t reveal its viewing figures. We must assume that’s because they’re too scared to do so. We do know that Scotland 2016 manged no more than 30 000.

The important point is that come Indyref2 in say 2020, the media landscape will be transformed from that of 2014, with the majority of the voters accessing news from online sources which are much more likely to be either pro-independence or at least impartial thus more accurate.

Look back at these tiny five-digit figures and remember there are 3 900 000 voters in Scotland. Even if Reporting Scotland were still getting the 500 000 they claimed ten years ago, the vast majority would still be getting their news online.

http://www.insider.co.uk/company-results-forecasts/newsquest-herald–times-ltd-11041153

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-39076470

Here’s an extract from the Scottish Government’s more positive but restrained response to our notional deficit followed by the link to Wings over Scotland’s comments:

The case is building with the entry of Professor Andrew Cumbers who supports the Business for Scotland report as ‘correct’ in its assessment of the failures of the UK government to tax the oil majors at the same time as they were being taxed quite heavily by every other oil producing nation. See this graph from my earlier piece on the same topic:

https://thoughtcontrolscotland.com/2017/08/05/oil-companies-making-more-at-50-per-barrel-than-they-did-at-100-per-barrel-yet-the-uk-government-is-not-taxing-them-is-this-a-ploy-to-undermine-the-case-for-scottish-independence-or-just-interlockin/

You’ll see at the bottom of this article the many media reports on this story. An answer is needed from Westminster. Professor Cumber and Business for Scotland re-told a story that had already been told in 2016 by the International Transport Workers’ Federation and reported in Tax Justice:

‘New analysis of the UK’s North Sea oil and gas suggests that the combination of tax giveaways by the government, and aggressive avoidance by multinationals, means that the country may actually be subsidising the extraction of its natural resources. A new report published today by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) sets out a series of shocking statistics on the UK’s failure to obtain an appropriate share of its own resource wealth. Among them, these stand out:

• In 2014, UK consumers paid 6 times more tax on petrol, excluding VAT, than the North Sea oil and gas industry paid on all taxes related to production.
• Chevron’s effective tax rate in 2014 on earnings from North Sea production was 5.4%; statutory tax rates (of various types) on oil and gas should have totalled 61-82%.
• In 2014, 3 (Shell, BP & Total) of the top 4 North Sea producers produced more than £4.3 billion worth of oil and gas and received over £300 million in net tax refunds.

The ITF argue that while the oil sector has successfully lobbied for and won huge tax breaks from the UK government, the companies involved continued to pursue aggressive tax avoidance as standard practice. The Chevron report (see graphic for UK structure, click to enlarge) provides a detailed case study of tax dodging tactics which are replicated by others, particularly Nexen – on which the Times had a frontpage splash yesterday, using ITF analysis to show that the Chinese government-backed company received tax credits of £2 billion.’

http://www.taxjustice.net/2016/08/25/uks-north-sea-oil-revenues-giving-away/

Now, writing for Common Space, Professor Cumber has added his weight to the Business for Scotland report and by implication, the earlier ones:

‘ENERGY SECTOR expert Andrew Cumbers, professor of regional political economy at Glasgow University, has told CommonSpace that a recent controversial report by the pro-independence think tank Business for Scotland is “correct about UK mismanagement of the North Sea, and I think that goes back years”.’

I guess it’s kind of obvious why the corporate media ignored the leftist International Transport Workers’ Federation and Tax Justice, in 2016. Perhaps they’ll feel obliged to pay more attention to a Glasgow University professor?

To further elaborate the evidence from the graph above and the quote just above, here is an extract from the CommonSpace account:

‘The BFS report, released in anticipation of this week’s Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures, claimed that the UK’s mismanagement of North Sea oil had cost Scotland tens of billions of pounds in the two years since the collapse in oil prices. BFS said that during the price crash, when a barrel of oil lost more than half of its price-value, Norway has made almost £29.33bn in oil and gas revenues. By contrast, the UK is predicting it will lose nearly £22.8m. However, BFS also pointed out that Norway kept taxation on oil at and gas at 78 per cent, and drew on its sovereign wealth fund to help workers, rather than subsidising large oil companies, as the UK does with its policy of tax rebates for new oil field exploration and rig decommissioning. If the UK Government had adopted the same policy, Scotland would have a multi-billion pound oil fund…..The continued approach to North Sea oil and gas … basically seems to be driven largely by corporate interest.’

https://www.commonspace.scot/articles/11561/claims-uk-mismanaged-north-sea-oil-backed-energy-sector-expert

Other coverage though often contaminated by Murdo Fraser:

UK Government accused of ‘mismanagement’ of oil and gas industry – News for the Oil and Gas Sector

Oil ‘mismanagement’ blamed for Scotland’s deficit – The Courier

https://www.thecourier.co.uk › News › Politics › Scottish politics

Energy Voice | UK Government accused of ‘mismanagement’ of oil and …

https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/…/uk-government-accused-mismanagement-…

Claims UK mismanaged North Sea oil backed up by energy sector …

https://www.commonspace.scot/…/claims-uk-mismanaged-north-sea-oil-backed-energ…

How Westminster helped squander Scotland’s black gold | Kevin …

https://www.theguardian.com › Opinion › Oil

Revealed: Westminster and the big lie about Scotland’s oil (From …

http://www.heraldscotland.com/…/15483952.Revealed__Westminster_and_the_big_lie_abo…

Pro-Scottish independence group claims Treasury threw away £17bn …

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/…/pro-scottish-independence-group-claims-treasury-thr…

This story should not be allowed to die. At the very least it has been incompetence or chummy corruption but it is also highly coincidental with Westminster’s need to undermine the case for Scottish independence in 2014 and in the years running up to the referendum.

The Scottish Fisherman’s Organisation is a collective, which processes catches for its members and has just reported a whopping (technical term) 88% increase in profits. This comes at the same time as other evidence of massive growth in the Scottish food and drinks industries which are currently dominating the UK export market. See, for example:

SNP Minister intervenes to ensure more fish are landed in Scotland to benefit both fishermen and local businesses that depend on fishing

With only 8% of the population, Scotland accounts for more than 28% of UK food and drink exports. Too wee to survive on our own?

As Scotland massively increases its number of breweries and distilleries, food and drink start-ups here have had a higher survival rate and have grown at a faster rate than in the rest of the UK

Scottish Government awards 13 firms £3.5m in new grants to maintain push for growth in food and drink sales

Dramatic growth in Scottish fish and shellfish farming output. More evidence we can thrive.

Scottish Fisheries stocks to rise significantly this year

Turnover for the group rose 40% to £19.1 million with exports accounting for £11.61 million of that and confidence is high for the year ahead.

http://www.insider.co.uk/company-results-forecasts/scottish-fishermens-organisation-can-thrive-11033016

Is this all? How can we expect to survive? We’ll starve! 😊