Black gold

IN HIS latest attack on independence, Business Secretary Vince Cable warns that an independent Scotland could “not rely on oil cash” (your report, 16 March).

This is rather peculiar, considering that less than a fifth of Scotland’s income is based on oil revenues, whereas in Norway, one of the richest nations in the world, about a third of its income is based on oil revenues. This year that nation is set to record a budget surplus of £30 billion, some of which will be locked away in its oil fund, now valued at well over £400bn. Curiously, Mr Cable has been rather quiet in his criticism of the Norwegian economy and its “over-reliance” on oil revenues to balance the books.

Rather than frittering away our black gold into the Treasury black hole, we should be looking at locking some of the over a trillion pounds in oil revenues still left in the North Sea into such a fund. Independence will not only allow us to do this, but also put in place the economic levers that will allow our economy to flourish, free from the UK straitjacket.

Alex Orr

Leamington Terrace

Edinburgh