Truth of oil wealth hidden? Yes or No – You Decide

Robin and Adam kindly agreed to debate the case for Yes and No at the Gazette’s Independence Debate in Lanark Memorial Hall on May 26.

They were only too happy to answer questions posed by our readers that we couldn’t quite get through on the night, thanks to a heated meeting which 420 people attended!

So, just a matter of hours before Carluke and Lanark Gazette readers go to the polls to decide on independence, we’re bringing you their responses.

Each hour on the hour, between 8am and 10pm today, we’ll post one of the answers to a question posed by a Gazette reader.

For each question posed, we will give one opinion from the Yes camp and one from the No camp.

Question: Could the panel explain why anyone should believe Westminster’s promise of additional powers after ALL governments since Harold Wilson’s have hidden the truth regarding the oil revenue potential?

Robin McAlpine, Yes campaign: The McCrone report and subsequent reports thereafter have shown the deliberate deceit of the Scottish public over oil and no doubt other matters also. I don’t really like to dwell on history too much and I very seldom accuse people of lying. But in this case the history of the last 40 years has been revealed to be a series of absolutely brazen lies from Westminster about Scotland’s economic future. It does show that when it comes to a desire to control Scotland and its fabulous natural assets, honesty has never been on Westminster’s agenda. I have never made a case for Scottish independence based on oil – it’s our human talent and other natural resources that I want to base our future on. But we really should be livid at deliberate untruths that have been presented to us by Westminster politicians over recent decades.

Professor Adam Tomkins, No campaign: Devolution was delivered in 1997. Moreover, it was extended in 2012 by the current, Conservative-led, Government and it is being extended by that same Government now, in Wales. The delivery and extension of devolution in 1997 and 2012-14 underscores the ongoing commitment of all the main Westminster parties to further and deeper devolution.