Stonehenge Mystery Deepens As Altar Traced To Scotland

The entire North Sea is parcelled up according to the coastline of the country it is adjacent to. It therefore follows that in the name of consistency we would need to allot that part of the North Sea adjacent to Scotland to the jurisdiction of the Scots were they also an independent country. As to who developed the area, that tended to be private oil companies, who pay their taxes to the nation whose jurisdiction they operate in. You say that proximity is not a deciding factor though it is in most cases and notably has always been for the North Sea.

As for Gibraltar, like your foray to the Falklands it is an utterly fake comparison. Gibraltar is an area of land with inhabitants on it who live there, not an artificial construction which exists only for people to work on. So please quit with these diversionary fake comparisons. And stick to the real point. Which is why do you think waters off an independent Scotland should be treated differently to those off every other North Sea country? And why should whichever private entity developed it make the slightest bit of difference? You have boldly stated that you do not think an independent Scotland should have the same rights in the North Sea as every other North Sea country without any valid justification as to why so far. Citing inhabited territories like Gibraltar is at one and the same time a desperate ploy, a fake comparison, and a complete irrelevance to the issue.

So the Scots have precedent and current North Sea practice for making the claim that most of our wells would be in their jurisdiction were they independent, and that therefore the rest of us benefitting from them is a net gain for us resulting from them remaining in the UK. Which should be weighed up in any balance sheet. For one thing virtually all the oil is pumped ashore in Scotland to be processed by Scottish refineries actually on Scottish soil. Your attempt to deny their rights is thus rather feebly based but apparently all you have in your desire to insist that Scotland takes more than it gives. Why do you feel such a need to believe that? Have you so invested in that notion intellectually and emotionally that you feel compelled to distort reality and current practice and invoke fake comparisons in order to justify it?