Murphy slams SNP oil figures

Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy reignited the debate over the Scottish oil fund this week declaring the SNP's valuation of Scottish oil an “extraordinary exaggeration.”  

The fund is being demanded by the SNP who claim that the North Sea reserves could have brought the government £230 billion in tax revenue over the last 30 years.

John Swinney, Scotland's finance secretary, issued a discussion paper last summer on the benefits of a Scottish oil fund. He claimed that Scotland is the only nation to have discovered oil and not benefited directly from the discovery.

The Norwegian government recently revealed the Norwegian oil wealth fund had a 25.6 percent return on investment last year. Norges Bank received £68.7 billion from the fund investments. This Mr Swinney claimed was “a powerful illustration of the need for Scotland to gain the full powers of independence, and access to our own resources”.

Mr Swinney continued: “We know that £50 billion of North Sea oil revenues is due to flow to the London exchequer over the coming six years—more than during the previous six, and £10 billion up on the Treasury's previous forecast—and it is high time that Scotland secured long-term benefit from our resources in the same way as Norway is.”

The paper was contested by Jim Murphy who issued a letter stating the SNP was attempting to "misinterpret and misrepresent" Scotland's economic position. Mr Murphy argued that “the fact that Scotland has benefited to the tune of £76 billion since devolution, I know, for some people, is an inconvenient truth”.

He continued: ”Scotland is stronger and better off as a fundamental part of the UK both in times of prosperity and, especially so, during the present economic hard times."