IT was just over 45 years ago that the fabled McCrone Report was put before the Conservative Government of Ted Heath and promptly put on the shelf.
The report concluded that North Sea oil would transform the Scottish economy if the country was independent and was quietly put aside as Heath prepared to fight the General Election held on February 28, 1974, which resulted in Labour taking power under Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Labour duly suppressed the report, too.
Tomorrow, the National will present a fresh analysis of the report by Professor Gavin McCrone and tell the story of how successive UK Governments kept it under wraps.
We will also reveal for the first time the name and party of the Scottish Office minister who did most to stop its publication.
The National will show how the minister, who never thought the report would ever be published, gave himself away by writing comments in the margin of the copy prepared for his boss, the Secretary of State for Scotland, who also approved the suppression of the report.
No wonder those unionists did that. The McCrone Report might well have changed the course of Scottish political history. That it was kept secret until 2005 and only unearthed by an SNP researcher is all part of our story of suppression by unionist politicians and their British civil service lackeys.
We will also be showing just what might have happened had Scotland become independent in the 1970s by looking at what happened in a country not very far away that struck oil in exactly the same month as Scotland: Norway, where they invested their oil riches into a fund that is now worth more than £200,000 for every man woman and child in the country.
One sentence from the McCrone Report sticks out above all: “For the first time since the Act of Union was passed, it can now be credibly argued that Scotland’s economic advantage lies in its repeal.”
Andrew Wilson, former MSP and author of the Growth Commission report, is aware of our report on McCrone. He said: “The mis-stewarding of the windfall of North Sea revenues is one of the greatest public policy and governance errors of the last 100 years.
“Had we the foresight and ability demonstrated by Norway we would have saved and invested allowing all future generations to benefit from the depletion of a scare natural resource.
“Like Norway we could also fund the acceleration of the transition to sustainable energy. Instead the UK government spent every penny on today’s spending and tax cuts.
“They also failed to secure a commercial equity share of the value as well. This was a great pity. And all for narrow partisanship."
Wilson added: “There is a parallel right now with the monumental idiocy of the Brexit chaos and the damage it will inflict on our economy for generations to come. Many successful small economies around the world demonstrate that there is a far better way of doing things.”
The people of Scotland were lied to before the 2014 independence referendum and again at the 2016 Brexit referendum. Tomorrow we will show how the British state lied and cheated Scotland long before that. We urge our readers to buy an extra copy and show it to a unionist.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel