Scotland would’ve voted Yes for independence in 2014 if Alex Salmond had the Climate Opportunity Westminster has gifted Humza Yousaf
Rishi Sunak’s backtracking on Net Zero now presents Scotland an opportunity to build an overwhelming majority of popular support behind Scotland utilising the lucrative future of North Sea Oil & Gas as the engine room of an independent Scotland and using the revenues to race ahead of the rest of the UK by using Carbon Capture Technology to mitigate a large share of all of Europe’s carbon emissions.
The latest Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland (GERS) figures showed that Scotland’s share of oil and gas revenues rose to a record £9.4 billion in the past financial year.
Tackling the cost of living crisis and climate change are the two burning issues of the day. With world envying natural resources in oil & gas, and Scotland’s abundance of renewables potential, with independence we would generate much more energy than we need. This means lower fuel bills for Scots and it means that Scotland can attract the emerging energy resource intense industries of the future to set up shop here by offering them cheap electricity in exchange for the high value manufacturing jobs they would bring to the country.
It would be foolhardy for Humza Yousaf in this backdrop to walk into a trap of siding with the North Sea job killing policies of the Labour Party because of pressure he’s under from his Green Party Coalition Partners.
If he does so he will leave his SNP colleagues in the North East of Scotland high and dry but importantly will pass up on the chance for Scotland to have a real influence in tackling climate change.
The SNP might now be embarrassed to say that “ It’s Scotland’s Oil “ but after years of Scotland’s natural resources being wasted by Westminster, we need the Scottish Government to get itself back onto a sensible footing that supports the utilisation of the benefits Scotland’s natural resources bring by supporting the go ahead of projects such as the Rosebank Oilfield.
Humza Yousaf should have been on the front foot to put the Scottish Government’s support behind making continued oil and gas development compatible with the planet’s future. Lying 80 miles from Shetland, Rosebank is the largest untapped oil and gas field in UK waters.
It’s Norwegian owners aim to start production at the site in 2027 and could extract 300 Million barrels of oil there. The Scottish Government should have demanded Westminster gave this project the go ahead but with the world’s first Net Zero requirements imposed on its license. Instead Scotland has been let down by both the UK Government and the Scottish Government.
This opportunity missed could have brought together the desire to protect the planet and protect jobs and build a high value economy. That is the sort of initiative that can build overwhelming support for independence by embracing the future of the North Sea as a means of supporting Scotland’s renewables revolution.
If Westminster had gifted Alex Salmond this Climate opportunity back in 2014 then Scotland would’ve voted for independence.
