DID YOU KNOW?

Continuing the Salvo Did you know series. This contribution from Leah Gunn Barrett, a member of the Steering Committee of the Scottish National Congress.

Did you know 1921 was the last year the British State published Scotland’s contribution to the UK Exchequer? That year, Scotland contributed £119.7m, of which £33.1m was spent on Scottish services and £86.6m was retained in London for ‘Imperial Services.’ Irish independence was most likely the reason publication ceased. London didn’t want to give the Scots ideas above their station.^[1] 

Another brief glimpse of Scotland’s contribution to the UK Treasury was in 1952/3. That year, Scotland’s revenue of £409.6m exceeded by £100m the combined revenues of Norway (£183m) and Denmark (£130m).^[2]

After North Sea oil was discovered in Scottish waters in the early 1970s, Scotland’s revenue exploded into the billions. The UK Government reacted by hiding the McCrone Report that showed just how wealthy Scotland would be if it retained its oil revenues.^[3] Again, London couldn’t risk Scots finding out how wealthy they were. Then Thatcher destroyed Scotland’s industrial base, replacing it with nothing.

In 1999, on the eve of the opening of the Scottish Parliament, Tony Blair and Donald Dewar moved the maritime boundary from Berwick to Arbroath, reclassifying 6k square miles of Scottish sea as English, along with seven major oil fields. This immediately reduced Scottish revenue in the rigged GERS accounts. And Keir Starmer wants Scots to once again trust a Labour government! 

The UK’s ongoing theft of our natural resources should be reason enough to end this union farce. The SNP leadership candidates, if serious about independence, should be shouting this from the rooftops. 

Yours sincerely,

Leah Gunn Barrett

^[1] https://randomscottishhistory.com/2022/03/29/contribution-of-scotland-to-the-exchequer-p-41/

^[2] https://randomscottishhistory.com/2022/03/29/contribution-of-scotland-to-the-exchequer-p-41/

^[3] https://www.thenational.scot/news/18438185.truth-behind-scotlands-oil-mccrone-report/

MY COMMENTS

Why do Scots tolerate this?. Why are people so apathetic that they have no idea of the scale of the theft of our assets happening every single day, for generation after generation? For god’s sake….wake up…then do something to fight back. Like joining Salvo and signing up to Liberation.Scot. Please share the information contained here widely until everyone knows…whether they want to or not!

I am, as always

Yours for Scotland

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