It’s not all about oil though, as is made remarkably clear from the evidence in our publication
Scotland the Brief. Scotland has everything that it takes to be an extremely prosperous and successful independent nation, and more. Scotland with only 8.4% of the UK population possesses 34% of the
UK’s natural wealth.
This prompts the question – why does a naturally wealthy nation with a strong, resilient and diverse onshore economy, booming
exports, a
highly educated population, low unemployment, a wealth of oil and renewables, and a wide range of strong economic sectors have a set of accounts (GERS) that suggest that Scotland’s finances are weak? That is a trick question, it doesn’t. GERS is not a set of accounts for spending in Scotland it contains spending outside of Scotland that doesn’t benefit Scotland economy and that Scotland didn’t generate. GERS also contains clear evidence of mechanisms for removing wealth from Scotland’s accounts which then creates a phoney deficit. There are actually several hidden mechanisms for stealthily removing Scotland’s wealth. The one we will look at in this article is debt loading.