TWO of the country’s most respected oil academics have accused the boss of Royal Bank of Scotland of using “scare tactics” by suggesting it could move its registered office “nameplate” from Edinburgh to London in the event of a Yes vote in a second independence referendum.
Professors Alex Russell and Peter Strachan said such a move was an attempt to influence the outcome of a potential referendum, which indicated that London was still treating Scots as second-class citizens.
“It’s a scare tactic to say banks and other financial institutions will shift out of Scotland if Scotland was to dream of going for independence,” Russell told The National.
“It’s up to people in Scotland to decide whether they go for independence. We have a Canadian in charge of the Bank of England and we have Ross McEwan, a Kiwi, in charge of RBS – don’t we have people in the UK who can make decisions equally well?”
Strachan added: “I’m sure the economic capabilities of people in Scotland are far ahead of those of people elsewhere, and why we are having to employ outside people to make our decisions for us beggars belief.
“I hope RBS thinks again before it makes provocative statements regarding what they will do with their registered office.”
Russell, chairman of the Oil Industry Finance Association, and Strachan, from Aberdeen’s Robert Gordon University, made their comments after former first minister Alex Salmond attacked the BBC over its “clear misreporting” of a weekend interview with McEwan. In it, McEwan said RBS would be “too big for the economy” in an independent Scotland and it might have to register elsewhere, but that would not affect the 12,000 people who work for the bank.
He said: “That’s around the plaque, it’s not about where our people are because we have a very big business up here in Scotland.”
However, the BBC website headlined the interview: “Indy vote would still prompt RBS move.”
McEwan has been on a tour of the Highlands and Islands, and in Aberdeen he told Energy Voice that the oil sector’s mid-term future looked bright.
“In three-plus years it will move back up again because it is a global commodity,” he said. “Long-term, oil and gas will be fine. Prices will quietly over time increase. Will the price of oil go back to $110-$120 [per barrel]? I don’t think so. Will it get to $55-$65 – I would have thought so.”
However, the academics also seized upon those figures, and Russell said nobody knew what would happen to the price of oil in the next couple of years.
“I think there is so much uncertainty regarding the situation in the Middle East, the Ukraine and Syria and, more importantly, in the relationship with Russia in general.
“For pressure to be maintained on Russia I don’t think America and Saudi Arabia will allow the oil price to go back up to anything like the levels it was at before. It might go up to $55 or $60, but once it hits $65 a barrel, fracking will start again in the US and the price will come down again.”
Strachan added: “We are in a situation where we still have a glut of oil. There’s no shortage of oil and that will continue for years to come. At the same time, as we are seeing increasing pressure from the Green Party and people concerned about global warming to cut back on the use of oil. I think there will be a move more towards the use of renewables than oil and it may well be taxes will go up on oil as well.”
A spokesman for RBS said the bank would not elaborate on McEwan’s comments.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here