THE Scottish Greens said yesterday’s GERS figures revealed how badly the country needed a Scottish Green New Deal.
The party’s co-leader Patrick Harvie said that despite declaring a climate emergency, the Government was too reliant on the money brought in by the North Sea. He said: “Once again GERS is our annual reminder that too many Scottish politicians remain unwilling to break our reliance on oil revenues, despite all the rhetoric about a climate emergency.
“The figures are also a reminder of the urgent need to build a post-oil economy, whether Scotland is part of the UK or not. Independence would force us to face that urgency, but would also give us the powers to fully develop the Scottish Green New Deal agenda that is necessary.”
According to the GERS report, Scotland’s estimated revenue in 2018-19 without oil and gas was £61.3 billion.
As a percentage of gross domestic product, non-North Sea revenues increased to 37.2%.
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Scotland’s share of North Sea revenues was £1.43bn, which is £4 million higher than last year.
In 2017-18, Scotland’s share of offshore revenues increased by more than £1bn off the back of a surge in production.
This year’s increase was down to strong production in crude oil and natural gas liquid from established fields and from BP’s huge new Clair Ridge field off the West of Shetland, which commenced production in late 2018.
Excluding oil revenues, Scotland’s notional deficit moved above £14bn, equal to around 22% of revenues.
Mackay said: “Clearly we want a low-carbon economy, we want to contribute to an environmental responsibility.
“There’s obviously an issue around energy transition as well.
“We’ve actually charted a course that shows how you can grow your economy, diversify your economy and have a low-carbon, indeed a zero-net contributions economy, and we’ll continue to set that out.
“For me, ensuring that we have a progressive, more fairer society is really important, and one that accepts environmental responsibility.
“Through the Growth Commission work we were able to show also how we were able to grow our economy and not be dependent on oil revenues.”
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