Scotland would become independent on Thursday if it had voted yes and report says oil price plunge would have hit it hard
The full extent of the impact of plunging oil prices on Scotland’s finances has been laid bare in a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies showing that a post-independence government in Edinburgh would now be facing the need to raise tax or cut spending to fill a £10bn-plus black hole.
The IFS said the drop in the cost of crude from a peak of $115 a barrel in the months leading up to the 2014 referendum meant that while the UK as a whole would be back in surplus by the end of the decade, Scotland’s budget deficit would remain at more than 6% of national income.
Related: Scotland’s economy to be hit by oil price collapse, says thinktank