Originally Posted by
westlondoncarparts
The Shetland Isles are donors of overseas aid to the UK, this coming from the tax revenues from the substantial oil and gas fields in the Shetland territorial waters.
If there are concerns about the effectiveness of the UK Government’s overseas aid budget, just think how the Shetlanders feel about how their overseas aid to the UK has been frittered away and not spent sensibly – a major public sector financial crisis following the lack of Government regulation over the banks and the need for the Government to bail out the banks, a large Housing Benefit bill because the residential property boom means that ordinary people cannot afford a roof over their heads, a large tax credits bill because the British economy is in such poor shape that British businesses cannot afford to pay their workers a living wage and workers need to be given welfare payments to pay for food and a roof over their heads, the cost of illegal military interventions overseas, naval ship and plane resources decommissioned because the Government has no money to pay for them, food banks, disabled people having their welfare benefits cut, etc..
If the Shetlanders had kept all the tax revenue for themselves and not donated to the UK, they could have been the Abu Dhabi of Northern Europe with financial wealth beyond their wildest dreams. No wonder the Conservative Party is not doing anything to rain on the parade of greater autonomy for the Shetlands.