[Recent renewed speculation as to the extent of…]
Socialist Press1980 1980-10-08Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 10 →
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Recent renewed speculation as to the extent of the reserves of North Sea oil as yet untapped and the possible impact upon the Scottish economy have been the inspiration for fresh political controversy on this issue.
Statements by the chairman of Shell UK, John Raisman, at a recent seminar at Aviemore that increased investment by the oil companies of the order of £40,000 million in the next 15 years will double the number of those directly involved in the industry and claims by oil experts that probable reserves will last into the next century have both refuelled the argument.
Reactionary
These reports have been seized upon in their usual opportunist fashion by the SNP to bolster their reactionary, divisive separatist campaign, featuring a portrayal of Thatcher as a vampire drinking Scotland's life-blood, ie. the revenues of North Sea oil.
This expensive publicity stunt cannot be lightly dismissed for, as a recent article in Socialist Press argued, a failure by Labour controlled councils in Scotland to confront Tory-imposed cuts could create demoralisation amongst layers of workers who could then become possible captives of SNP propaganda.
Limited As well as combatting the diversionary claims of the nationalists, socialists in Scotland must also point out the limited impact of oil revenues in the context of an economy in recession.
The increased moneys earned from North Sea Oil over the last year have been totally absorbed by the rising cost of unemployment benefits.
All of the hopes of an oil bonanza are being dashed by the urgent necessity of bailing out a bankrupt capitalist economy.
The prospect of 80,000 jobs in oil and related industries by 1995 has to be seen within the context of a recessionary situation in which there is already an overcapacity in the petrochemical industry.
Recent projects, such as that of Dow Chemicals, will have to operate in á climate of falling demand for their products.
Moreover, even an expansion of jobs of the order promised cannot hold back the mounting tide of redundancies as other sections of Scottish industry fold.
The way • forward for Scottish workers is not through the diversionary campaigns for import controls or for a bigger share of oil revenues but along the lines of the fighting perspectives to be discussed at the Conference to Fight Unemployment in Falkirk on October 12, a conference backed by the Federation of Trades Councils in the Central Region and the District Committee of the TGWU in that area.