A London accountancy firm has calculated that an independent Scotland could cut income tax by 9p in the pound. The City firm Chantrey Vellacott makes regular predictions about the impact of oil prices on the UK economy, and its findings have been seized on in the past by both Nationalists and opponents.

In the latest of a series of projections, the firm claims that at $30 a barrel and the current exchange rate, Scotland's 80% share of reserves would bring in £6.8bn in contrast to an estimated underlying deficit of £4.4bn.

SNP Shadow Finance Minister Andrew Wilson called this "game, set and match" to the case for independence.

Labour lackie State Brian Wilson responded: "You cannot base the economy on a commodity that fluctuates as wildly as the price of crude oil."

Then why are the Norwegians (oil rich)better of than the Scots? Their government is also investing in the countries future whilst Scots taxes and oil revenue is washed away in English stupidity.