Scotland decifit rises to 9.5% of GDP

If Scotland were an independent country, it would have to account for the offshore oil revenue being very variable. However, it would have the ability to, for instance, take the Norwegian option of putting this revenue into a trust fund to allow for years when it is less lucrative and boost long-term investment in the country, rather than the British approach in the 80s of using it to fund tax cuts. Scotland has very little control over its economy, so this really doesn't say much either way about how they'd cope outside of the UK.