Labour has called on the SNP Government to come clean after it sneaked out a game changing Oil and Gas Bulletin on the last day of Parliament.

Yesterday the SNP Government finally published an updated assessment of the future of the oil and gas industry, which showed an 85% reduction in projections of future revenue compared to the independence White Paper. 

The SNP Government sneaked the Oil and Gas Bulletin out on the last day of Parliament before the summer recess in an attempt to prevent proper detailed scrutiny of their numbers. Labour’s Shadow Finance Secretary Jackie Baillie called it a “scandal”.

Ms Baillie has today written to the outgoing Scottish Government Permanent Secretary asking when Ministers were first sighted on drafts of the Oil and Gas Bulletin and when the decision was made to publish it at the last possible moment.

Scottish Labour’s Shadow Finance Secretary Jackie Baillie said:

“The SNP Government’s latest Oil and Gas bulletin is a game changer. After months of denouncing everybody and anybody who said their sums don’t add up, the SNP have finally admitted themselves that their sums don’t add up. The SNP’s economic case for independence and full fiscal autonomy now lies in tatters.

“That such an important moment in the debate about Scotland’s future was dealt with in such an underhand and cynical way is a scandal. It discredits Nicola Sturgeon’s claim to lead an open and transparent government.

“The Scottish people deserve to know exactly when SNP Ministers first received this Oil and Gas Bulletin and when the decision was taken to sneak it out on the last possible day. I have written to the Permanent Secretary to get to the bottom of this. It’s time for the SNP to come clean on oil.

“This isn’t just a bit of political knockabout – it’s the future of our country. If SNP Ministers don’t take that seriously then they shouldn’t be in the job at all. Scotland deserves better than this.”