For more than twenty years North Sea oil collected in Scotland kept the UK economy afloat. I'm not sure if tax redistributions reflected this. But if not, perhaps they should have.  

It is not the only reason for the nationalist movement but, for historical reasons, it is the one that they have used. The Scottish National Party have long shied away from using cultural arguments to further the cause of independance - as a left of centre party they consider the slipper slop to racism.

The money argument is the SNP's frame however. They have long argued that Scotland should be the main beneficiary of the North Sea Oil and Gas.

So, "It's Scotland's Oil" seems to have become "It's Holyrood's oil".

Is it just the same old nationalist argument or is there a bigger economic argument this time?

The revenues Holyrood could expect to line its purse next year alone are estimated at £12bn.

And according to the SNP, this could rise to as much as £300m within 20 - 50 years. And that is just based on "known" reserves.

But critics dismiss the proposal as a non starter. Peter Wood is an Economic Consultant based at Tribal in Edinburgh.

He says the Treasury would never allow Scotland to keep oil revenues that would increase by 50% the money the Scottish Executive currently has to spend.

The bill they are talking about in the article is a bluff. The SNP's real target are the Scottish Parialment's elections next year.

<snark>
We're Scots, of course the arguments are money based
</snark>

Money is a sign of Poverty - Culture Saying