Scotland would be in a worse financial position than the rest of the UK just one year after independence, according to a report published today, writes Kieran Andrews, political editor.
The Centre for Public Policy for Regions said North Sea tax revenue forecasts for the period after 2011-12 have almost halved over the past 18 months.
It also says that while Scotland will have a better relative fiscal position than the UK in the next fiscal report by the Scottish Government, the UK’s position will start to look better than Scotland’s from 2015-16.
Better Together chairman Alistair Darling said: “The Nationalists would have you believe that everything in a separate Scotland could be paid for by establishing an oil fund.
“What this report shows is that they would be looking to set up this fund at exactly the same time that the revenues from oil and gas would start to steeply drop.”
A spokesman for Yes Scotland said: “North Sea oil and gas are tremendous assets and there are still vast untapped reserves estimated to be worth up to £1.5 trillion.
“But we are doubly fortunate in Scotland because we also have 25% of the EU’s offshore tidal and wind power potential, a clean, green energy resource worth many billions of pounds that will be in increasing demand as the world moves to a low carbon future.”