BP job cuts 'prove Scotland would have been in a financial mess if it had gone independent'

Oil giant BP's move to cut 600 jobs in the North Sea 'is further proof that Scotland would be in a “financial mess” if it had voted for independence'

A decision by the oil giant BP to cut 600 jobs in the North Sea is further proof that Scotland would be in a “financial mess” if it had voted for independence, it has been claimed.The latest cutback in the sector is a fresh embarrassment to Nicola Sturgeon who less than 18 months ago was predicting a second oil boom. She described the company’s decision as a crisis for those affected, but insisted the industry still had a “strong future”.BP said it would shed the jobs over the next two years at a time of “toughening conditions” in the industry and in the wake of a near 70 per cent collapse in oil prices.The move will take the number of people working for the firm in the North Sea to roughly 2,400, and comes a week after an SNP MSP claimed there was “no crisis”

According to the industry body Oil and Gas UK, an estimated 65,000 jobs have been lost in the current downturn, with the oil price now at a 12-year low of around $30 per barrel.When Scotland voted in the 2014 independence referendum the SNP white paper based its economic claims on a figure of over $100.



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/12096230/BP-job-cuts-prove-Scotland-would-have-been-in-a-financial-mess-if-it-had-gone-independent.html