Why won’t the SNP embrace the shale gas revolution?

One of the odder elements of the current energy debate at present is that the political party that spends the most time talking about energy – that’s the SNP by the way – is strangely reluctant to chase the opportunities afforded by the imminent shale gas revolution. It’s a subject I consider in a column for The Scotsman today:

Scotland’s oil resources are a vital national asset. Everyone, I think, knows this. If there were no remaining oil reserves waiting to be exploited in the North Sea, the economic case for independence would be severely weakened. Oil is a cushion and a comfort blanket.

But the Nationalist’s determination to make it seem as though Scotland’s oil is just a useful garnish – the cherry on an economic ice cream sundae – paradoxically weakens their case for independence and, more damagingly still, makes them seem detached from reality. “Oil is the bonus” says Alex Salmond, implying that without oil there’d still be an economic case for independence robust enough to persuade a sceptical electorate.