'Strong Shoulders'?

                              Who really has the 'strong shoulders'?

Scotland has consistently generated a significant balance of trade surplus - it exports more than it imports.[1] A nation earns foreign exchange reserves by selling its goods and services to other nations. 2019 ONS data shows Scotland had a £20.5 billion trade surplus, greater than any UK region except London. By contrast, England had a trade deficit of £43.3 billion.[2] Without Scotland’s contribution, the UK trade deficit would balloon by one third, hammering an already weak Sterling. 

An EU Commission report reveals that Scotland is on course to deliver nearly half of Europe’s offshore wind grid supply by 2035[3], which is over 55% of the entire offshore grid potential in the Mediterranean Basin.

Then there’s oil and gas. Scotland produces 82% of the UK total that raises over £65 billion in tax that stays in London. That is the equivalent of £5k for every Scottish household pa over the next six years. It’s Scotland’s money because the Continental Shelf Act of 1964 and 1968 defined 90% of UK North Sea maritime area under the jurisdiction of Scots law.[4]  

Just as Westminster suppressed the 1970s McCrone Report revealing Scotland’s oil and gas potential, it removed a 2013 report on Scotland’s renewables potential from the national archives website.[5] It needs to keep us ignorant to keep us imprisoned so it can continue its asset-stripping. 

Leah Gunn Barrett

08/12/22

[1] https://www.gov.scot/publications/trading-nation-progress-review-2022/pages/2/

[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/internationaltrade/bulletins/internationaltradeinuknationsregionsandcities/2019

[3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2020:741:FIN&qid=1605792629666

[4] https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1964/29/contents;

[5] https://www.albaparty.org/alba_accuse_uk_government_of_falsifying_the_official_record_on_scottish_offshore_wind