no surprise there...
Jan. 30th, 2006 08:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterbadgerOfficial papers which were previously secret have shown how ministers were advised to delay devolution to maintain control of North Sea oil revenues.
The 1970s documents warned that if devolution increased calls for independence, the loss of oil income might leave the UK virtually bankrupt.
...
A senior Whitehall civil servant wrote: "Progress towards devolution should be delayed for as long as possible, consistent with honouring the government's commitment to move down the devolution route and containing the SNP lobby in parliament."
Another official warned in 1975 of the impact on the rest of Britain's economy if Scotland moved to independence and took control of North Sea oil.
He said: "The Scots have really got us over a barrel here. The prospects for a separate English, Welsh and Ulster economy on the same assumption must look pretty grim."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4661584.stm
