Tory peer calls for partition in case of independence

Conservative peer Lord Sinclair has appealed to keep Orkney and Shetland under Westminster control in the event of Scottish independence.

The Earl of Caithness has tabled amendments to the Scotland Bill currently being passed through the House of Lords, demanding that in the event of Scotland voting “Yes” to independence, the results from Orkney and Shetland should be considered separate from the Scottish result.

The Scottish Nationalists have claimed that this is a “bizarre” contribution to the debate.

Some critics argue that such a move could potentially allow Westminster to create a Northern Ireland-style partition where those northern parts of Scotland, and the surrounding oil and gas reserves, would remain under the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom.

The nationalist debate over North Sea oil began in 1972 when the SNP launched a campaign under the slogan “It’s Scotland’s Oil”. A UK government report, which was later published, suggested that an independent Scotland’s surplus from the oil would be so large it would be “embarrassing”, and that an independent Scotland’s currency “would become the hardest in Europe”.

The document has been used by the SNP to support their calls for independence, comparing Scotland to the small oil-rich nation of Norway.

Rob Gibson, SNP MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, claimed that the latest intervention from the House of Lords to retain Scotland’s assets was an irrelevance.

Mr Gibson said: "The days of Earls and Lords telling the Highlands and Islands how it's going to be are well and truly over.

"Residents of the Northern Isles need only look east to our neighbours in Norway for a vision of the economic prosperity they will enjoy under independence.

"The Earl of Caithness can put forward whatever he likes in Westminster. It is the people and parliament of Scotland – including Orkney and Caithness - that will determine Scotland’s future."

However, critics point to a suspected funding gap of millions of pounds that Scotland would suffer should independence come to fruition.

Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, released a consultation paper on Burns Night setting out the wording of the 2014 referendum question: “Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?”

Mr Salmond is additionally pushing for a consultation on a ‘devo-max’ option for the referendum, which the Westminster coalition is largely against.