Why the political union simply doesn't work.

Many people think that in the UK, Scotland is as equally represented as any other member nation in the UK. There is a parliament which is elected by the people, for the people, by the proportion of the population in each area of the UK, right? Well, yes, but the problem of the political framework of the UK does not lie in the system of voting, it is the nature of the parliament and union itself.

Everyone will agree that Scotland and England have one thing we both seem destined never to agree on, politics. England is traditionally a Conservative voting nation, whilst Scotland is traditionally a Labour voting nation (well, SNP now, but Labour's a better example for the time being). You would think that these conflicted views would be represented by the elected government. Unfortunately that is not the case.

Time and time again Scotland has received the party which we never vote for, and probably never will vote for, but we have been still been governed by the Tory's on lot's of occasions. When looking at this from an objective viewpoint, this seems a bit off. A country which is meant to be an equal member of the UK, gets the government it is bent on avoiding, and only plenty of occasions has shafted Scotland to the point of obscenity (think Ravenscraig-esque).

The best example of this would be to look back onto the Thatcher years. Did we vote for the Tory's then? No. Did our vote for the Tory's increase whilst they were in power? No, it actually fell year on year. Margaret Thatcher's philosophy of free-market capitalism, privatisation and greed is good totally collides with the common psyche of the Scottish people.

This is a prime reason why the modern Scotland we live in needs independence, our political views are almost the complete opposite with the views of the ruling nation of the UK. (Let's face it, it is.) In the current political framework it is impossible for us to get the government we desire is our votes are swamped by English votes south of the border. It is only pure chance which sometimes gets us the government we actually  want. 

An independent Scottish Government would be able to be fully representative of the votes of its people. Not filtered and swamped out by the votes of another nation which almost has completely different views from Scotland. An independent Scottish parliament would be able to work directly for the Scottish people, and not be used as a mere stepping stone for other parties in England, to gain power in Westminster.

It would also be a good opportunity for Labour to start fresh, and re-discover its roots which made the party connect effectively with the Scottish people, and would really be able to benefit the Scottish society, as it would be a Scottish party working for Scotland, not Sullyhill.

It is important that Scotland looks to its future now, and does not dwell on the mistreatment of the past. We have always been a nation that has been able to be innovate and intuitive when faced with harsh times. It is time for a Scottish Government which can make it happen for the Scottish people. 

New Investment Plans for North Sea Oil Industry.

There has been recent heavy investment into the North Sea oil industry, as the Norwegian state-owned oil giant Statoil has announced it will a total of £18 billion in total into the industry to keep their fields pumping up until at least 2057.

In terms of the employment in the industry, the new investments plans will provide a massive boost. It is expected that 300 new jobs will be available in a new operation centre in Aberdeen, and a further 700 will be created in the process of the investment plans being implemented.

The plans came to light when David Cameron was on a visit to Norway. Some may say that this is a sign that the oil wealth will go to helping all areas of the UK, as it was the UK prime minister which signed the deal. That, unfortunately, is not the case. It has been shown that throughout the course of the North Sea oil history that Scotland rarely sees the effect of a £1.5 trillion industry, as all the revenues goes straight down to the London Exchequer.


The oil revenues raise an average of £30 billion per year across the whole of the UK, and since Scotland has 90% of the reserves, that means we should be getting £27 billion of the revenues surely. Again however, that does not happen. What we receive is a budget that gets shrunk each year; the budget we received last year amounted to £23 billion, which means Westminster gets £4 billion of the revenues Scotland made.

This recent heavy investment into the industry once again proves that the Scottish economy is thriving, and no doubt has the potential to prosper even further if we gain independence. As it means that the revenues we accrue can go directly to helping the people, industries, infrastructure and the society of Scotland as whole.

These recent events also should trump any argument saying that our oil industry is not profitable enough to help our nation survive on its own, or is dwindling fast. Unfortunately though, no amount of heavy investment into the industry will block out the scaremongering from the media, government and unionists.

It is only with full independence form Westminster that Scotland can truly show what it can do when competing on the global market, and to truly provide a secure and viable economic future for Scotland that will benefit the welfare of our society, which is undoubtedly the most important issue in any nation. Not fighting pointless wars or keeping needless weapons of mass destruction on our doorstep.