I cannot believe the words I am about to type tonight. I have walked away from writing this several times. I have considered the implications over and over. I am shook.
So have many of you been, given our twitter retweets on the subject.
Today Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, has decided to follow the plan for an independent Scotland.
For years the independence movement has claimed if we stewarded our resources in a manner similar to Norway, we would have a ridiculously large oil fund.
The Norwegian Oil Fund Market Value today is $1,180,000,000,000.

Well… the UK in an effort to avoid being written off as a financial basket case, decided to copy the Yes movement homework and claims in todays Energy Taxes Factsheet:
Today [17th November] we are announcing that from the start of 2023 the Energy Profits Levy will increase by 10% points to 35%. This will bring the headline tax rate for the sector to 75% which is comparable to other North Sea tax regimes, including Norway.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-statement-2022-energy-taxes-factsheet/energy-taxes-factsheet
What does this mean? Well again from the same factsheet
This is expected to raise over £14 billion between 2023 and 2028 and will help pay for the more than £55 billion of support being provided for household and business energy bills.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-statement-2022-energy-taxes-factsheet/energy-taxes-factsheet
Did the Scottish Government write the factsheet?
The North Sea will continue to remain the foundation of the UK’s energy security during the transition to net zero and maintaining investment is key.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-statement-2022-energy-taxes-factsheet/energy-taxes-factsheet
Oh by the way, those resources in the North Sea that just raised £14 billion on demand for the UK Government, do you suppose they could bridge the gap that is the claimed Scottish deficit in the event of independence, how much was that again?

The UK Government using only Scotland’s current resources, just made the economic case for independence. They even made a factsheet. Literally called it the ‘Energy Taxes Factsheet’. They’ve demonstrated how we’d fill the deficit gap, using the Norwegian model.
It is now beyond any doubt that Scotland could handle its own economic affairs – given that the vast resources of Scotland’s North Sea just bailed out the entire UK (again).
This factsheet is so damn good for the independence cause, I’ve made it into a pdf for download incase the UK Government decide to pull it down, after realising how solid they have made the independence case.