Scottish cringe is being used by UK to plunder our resources

These are facts not opinions. And the British government has done everything in its power to bury these facts and is determined to ensure they remain buried. More than that, it continues to propagate the myth that Scotland is a drain on the Westminster coffers rather than a net contributor, perhaps even the most important net contributor.

Why else would Westminster be so determined to cut off any route by which Scotland could leave the Union? If we were really such subsidy junkies, you would think it would be only too pleased to see us leave.

Indeed, so keen was the government of Harold Wilson to stop us realising the full extent of our oil wealth that it buried a report detailing the facts under reporting restrictions which kept it secret for decades. We know the truth now. Thankfully, this newspaper has now printed the full McCrone report for all to read.

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Of course, such is the inferiority complex bestowed on Scotland by hundreds of years of being in the Union we are still not convinced of the benefits of oil.

During the 2014 referendum campaign we were told over and over again of the folly of building the economy of an independent Scotland on oil money which, we were assured, was on the verge of running out.

It turns out oil remains a valuable asset, albeit an asset which continues to be squandered by a UK Government which resolutely refuses to use oil revenues to benefit the people and instead allows oil companies such as Shell and BP to use the global oil “shortage” and the war in Ukraine as an excuse to increase energy prices to previously unimaginable heights.

The focus has now turned to renewable energies, which again puts Scotland in an enviable position given we are so rich in these sources of energy.

Of course, despite these riches we cannot rely on renewables to bring those sky-high bills down to reasonable levels. Just as we were told oil would soon run out and was therefore unreliable, so too was renewable energy dependent on the sun shining and therefore unreliable.

Energy bills remain sky-high despite Scotland's plentiful renewable energy resources All the energy sources which make other countries in the world rich are somehow so unreliable that Scotland is pushed ever further into poverty.

The Scottish Government would not need to make child poverty its number one priority were we not saddled with an energy pricing system which literally pays suppliers to turn off sources of energy when they produce too much electricity.

Confused? You’re not alone. The chief executive of Octopus Energy Greg Jackson says the UK operates within a “fundamentally broken market” that robs Scottish consumers of the rewards for hosting such important energy infrastructure.

He'd prefer the obviously crazy system of cutting the price of electricity or making it free when it’s windy rather than paying wind farms to switch off.

Another Octopus Energy executive, Rachel Fletcher, told The National this week that a fairer pricing structure could give Scotland the cheapest electricity in Europe.

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That would not only mean far lower bills for families, but it would also transform the Scottish economy by attracting businesses here. A zonal energy pricing structure has been introduced in Sweden, which has attracted more than £70 billion of industrial industry as a result.

Fletcher describes the UK electricity pricing system – which gives the UK some of the highest prices in Europe – as a national scandal waiting to break.

All this seems a dangerous repetition of the story of North Sea oil, even down to the Scandinavian examples of countries which handled oil revenues in a way which helped their people instead of helping massive multinationals to become even richer by pushing consumers into poverty.

And please, can we stop using the phrase “fuel poverty”. Consumers have no choice but to pay these astronomical fuel prices and the resulting poverty is very real, leaving those affected unable to properly feed themselves or their families.

When Scotland grumbled about how its oil revenues were squandered, we were told we were being selfish. The “It’s Scotland’s Oil” campaign was criticised as being fundamentally misguided because it was the UK’s oil and should be used to benefit the UK. Those who disagreed were made to feel mean-spirited and money-grabbing.

(Image: Unknown) The truth is that it was Scotland’s oil. Just as the abundant sources of renewable energy are Scotland’s renewable energy. We are now expected to sit back and pay through the nose as our energy is once again stolen and given to further enrich massive energy companies. A “national scandal” seems an understatement.

Labour’s key election pledge at least seemed to acknowledge that something had to be done. Keir Starmer promised to reduce energy bills by at least £300. It wasn’t enough. It was a very long way short of enough.

But his first move since entering Downing Street wasn’t to reduce fuel bills at all but to cut the Winter Fuel Payment to all but the poorest pensioners.

The word best used to describe the post-election policy of Labour is betrayal. And what do we see from the new, enlarged cadre of Scottish Labour MPs? Crocodile tears as they meekly accept the diktats of their new Prime Minister.

What do we see of his promises to put Scotland at the heart of his new government? More backtracking. More betrayal.

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Scotland is not even at the heart of Starmer’s new “nations and regions council”.

When it meets in Edinburgh today[Friday], John Swinney will be the only Scottish representative. No Scottish city has been invited, although there will be seats for the mayors of Manchester, Liverpool and Tyne Tees.

The very fact that nations and regions are continually lumped together as one unit is an indication of the muddled thinking in London of its place in the UK.

When I was editor of the now sadly defunct Sunday Herald, I regularly met with UK advertising agencies whose strategies included Scotland within its “regional” operations.

At no point did they understand the argument that Scotland is not a region. Similarly, Scottish newspapers are generally expected to compete in the regional rather than the UK press awards. I never really understood why so many Scottish newspapers did so.

Why would you self-identify as a regional newspaper when are so very clearly not?

But then, if your understanding of the UK is pretty much London and everywhere else then I guess that makes sense. That’s certainly the way Starmer sees it.

The choice of Edinburgh as the venue for his “nations and regions” council is a coded message to Scotland not to get ideas above its station – “Don’t think you are better than Manchester or Liverpool or anywhere else that is not London.”

The infamous Scottish cringe influences many Scots to take that message to heart but it is inherently a falsehood. The fact that Scotland is a nation is a fact, not an opinion. We have our own legal system, our own education system, our own history.

We have our own government, which is not in the hands of the Labour or Conservative parties, and our own energy resources. And one day we will have our independence back.

Until that day we need to see the Scottish cringe for what it truly is: not just a lie to convince us that our own culture is second rate compared to the artistic behemoth that is London but also that anything that is rightfully ours should be meekly handed over to the UK Government to do with what it wants.

Rather than complain that our cities have been excluded from the nations and regions council we should reject it as a forum fit for Scottish participation. Swinney should not go.