The Scotsman Cartoon: Squandering Scotland’s oil

SCOTLAND’S energy minister Fergus Ewing accused successive Westminster governments of having “squandered” cash from oil revenues over the years by failing to establish an oil fund.

Illustration: Iain Green

The SNP politician said it was “crystal clear” that if changes to the tax regime were not made, the hunt for oil would move to other parts of the world where extracting it would be cheaper.

He also hit back at former chancellor Alistair Darling’s claims that the sector had been successful because it had benefited from a “very stable tax and regulatory regime” under UK governments.

Both Mr Darling and Mr Ewing were speaking at a business breakfast in Aberdeen organised by industry body Oil and Gas UK.

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