No, Ms. Stephenson, they are Scotland's resources
But to reclaim them, we must end the union
In the June 12th edition of The Herald, Jill Stephenson says Stephen Flynn is daft to refer to “Scotland’s” wind and waves when our energy resources are owned by foreign companies.
Scotland doesn’t control its own energy resources - Westminster does. It decided to sell off our oil, and now our renewables, to foreign companies and governments. It also privatised our energy grid, seaports, airports, and railroads (at least the few remaining lines that weren’t axed by Beeching, who closed 850 miles of passenger railway between 1964 and 1972).
But the Scottish administration’s record of managing its vast renewable resources on behalf of the People has also been abysmal. It’s flogging our renewables to multinational corporations rather than pushing for public ownership and control. The 2022 ScotWind auction sold 8,600km of seabed that will produce 25 GW of offshore wind for a paltry one-off fee of £700 million. An area off of New York, a quarter of the size of the ScotWind auction, went for $4.37 billion.
This dismal record exists because Holyrood was created and is controlled by Westminster which retains the major powers of the state - the economy, international affairs, and defence. Only minor powers were devolved. Even the Scottish civil servants are chosen by Whitehall. If the Scottish administration deviates from the UK’s neoliberal privatisation agenda, it will be shut down, so it stays in its designated lane.
Ms Stephenson is wrong to say that “no-one owns the wind and the waves,” because most sovereign nations DO own their land, water and energy. The UK is unique in having privatised most of its natural assets, impoverishing the people and enriching the ruling elites.
After centuries of plundering other nations, the UK can’t seem to break the colonial habit. It is now plundering itself, with Scotland being the last remaining outpost with any wealth. The sovereign Scottish People are the rightful owners of these resources, stolen from them by a rapacious UK.
If that’s not a clarion call to end the failing union, I don’t know what is.
Leah, you're spot-on when you write this "This dismal record exists because Holyrood was created and is controlled by Westminster which retains the major powers of the state - the economy, international affairs, and defence. Only minor powers were devolved. Even the Scottish civil servants are chosen by Whitehall. If the Scottish administration deviates from the UK’s neoliberal privatisation agenda, it will be shut down, so it stays in its designated lane."
In a submission to Richard Murphy's taxresearch blog (https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2024/06/13/the-english-parties-are-both-right-wing-and-autoritarian/) I wrote this "...all the devolved nations are bound into the UK economy as dictated by the ruling party in Westminster. All tax revenues of the devolved nations, except Council Tax, go in the first instance to HMRC/the Treasury and then trickle down to the devolved governments via the Barnett formula, which is driven by UK Government spending in England. The outcome is vividly seen in the Scottish Government’s Budget, where the Tories’ policy of austerity reduces the Block Grant (particularly crippling in times of high inflation) and forces ScotGov to reduce its mitigation of UKGov tax and benefits policies. Similar impacts will be affecting the budgets of the Welsh Senned and the Stormont in N Ireland. The devolved nations haven’t moved to the right: they’ve been sucked to the right by the policies and funding structure of Westminster.
Currently there are no Scotland-specific data collected/available for c95% of its economy, so, under the existing scheme the real nature of Scotland’s economy will only become apparent once Scotland is independent and all tax etc revenues flow into the Scottish Exchequer." Ms Stephenson is undoubtedly aware of these facts but chooses to ignore and deny them, as indeed do the media who publish her fact-free ideological claims. Ignorance is bliss!
well said Leah