SCOTLAND must use “its voice” to stand up for its energy sector – or risk the “decades of theft of Scotland’s huge oil bounty” being repeated with renewables, a former minister has said.
Former justice secretary Kenny MacAskill, now the deputy leader of Alba, also called on the Scottish Government to prevent the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery.
It comes as The National marks the 50th anniversary of the infamous McCrone Report – which was kept hush-hush by Westminster mandarins because it shone a light on the bumper economic asset of Scotland’s oil reserves.
MacAskill has been campaigning to prevent the closure of the Grangemouth oil refinery – which it’s feared could result in the loss of around 400 jobs.
Read more from our McCrone 50th Anniversary special edition here:
-
Humza Yousaf: McCrone Report shows price of Scotland not being independent
-
What would Scotland look like if Scots saw the McCrone Report?
-
Alex Salmond: Why the McCrone Report is still so key 50 years on
But he said there was a new risk in the form of renewables – saying Scotland was not seeing enough benefit from the growing green energy sector.
He said: “Since oil was first discovered in Scotland’s North Sea we have been lied to and robbed.
“Since the oil started flowing around £300 billion in today’s money worth of oil has flowed to the UK Treasury. International capital keeps the profits, Westminster keeps the revenues and Scots are left to foot the bill.
“Despite Westminster telling Scots five decades ago that there wasn’t much oil there, last year the highest ever amount of revenues went to London whilst Scotland is faced with the absurdity of having its only oil refinery closed down.
“To make things worse, the decades of theft of Scotland’s huge oil bounty is now being repeated with renewables. The value is hidden from us, our asset taken from us and we get little in new jobs and businesses created.”
And MacAskill said the Scottish Government must do more to save the Grangemouth oil refinery.
He added: "At the time of McCrone we had no Parliament and no voice. Now we do. It’s time for it to use its voice to demand that Grangemouth must stay and that the absurdity of an energy-rich Scotland with fuel-poor Scots must end. The Scottish Government need to stand up for Scotland. “
We told previously how ministers appeared to have accepted its fate as all major players at the site accepted its “transition”.
Owners Petroineos want to turn it into a fuel import hub, which would be a much smaller operation than the refinery.
Unite, which represents workers at Grangemouth, and the Scottish Government maintains ambitions for it to become a biofuels factory – though there are fears this could be blocked by Westminster plans for limits on sustainable fuel for planes.
And we revealed previously how the UK Energy Minister snubbed Energy Secretary Mairi McAllan’s request for a meeting on the site’s future.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel