GLASGOW, 30 June (RIA Novosti), Mark Hirst – The UK Government needs to capitalize on the oil reserves off the Scottish west coast now that former UK Defense Secretary Lord Michael Heseltine has confirmed he personally blocked exploration plans, a retired Labor MP told RIA Novosti Monday.
“I would like to see the whole community getting in behind this and pressing the MoD to find another alternative training area, as the economic benefits here would be significant,” David Lambie told RIA Novosti, as the area just south of the Isle of Arran is still used by the Royal Navy for training exercises, blocking oil exploration.
Over the weekend, Lord Michael Heseltine, the UK Defense Secretary at the time and former Deputy Prime Minister to Margaret Thatcher, told a Scottish newspaper he had personally made the decision to block oil activity, claiming it would interfere with UK submarine operations in the area.
“Of course they kept denying it, but really the benefits to the local economy and to the economy of Scotland would, and could still be very considerable,” Lambie asserted, as he was the one, who caused a storm at Westminster after he claimed a senior Conservative minister had told him the MoD had blocked the exploration of a “significant find of oil” off the West coast of Scotland in 1983.
In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Post newspaper Lord Heseltine said, “We’ve still got nuclear submarines, we’ve still got a defense alliance with America, we still have to defend this country against any contingency – many of which we can’t foresee – so what’s changed?”
“I feel vindicated by this. For years they have denied they blocked oil exploration off the west coast, but I knew it was true as I had heard it directly from a Conservative minister in the government,” Lambie told RIA Novosti, still insisting the MoD should consider relocating their training area elsewhere.
“The survey work has been done. We know the oil is there,” Lambie added. “What we need now is the decision by the UK Government to proceed and carry it out.”
