Douglas Chapman's constituency include Crossgates, Hill of Beath and Moss-side.

It’s Scotland’s Oil

Many will remember the SNP campaign from late sixties saying that It’s Scotland’s Oil. North Sea oil and gas reserves were only supposed to last for a few decades. Meanwhile the Norwegians have smartly squirrelled away billions of oil dollars into their sovereign wealth fund while we, as part of the UK, have seen our oil revenues being used as collateral to allow the UK to borrow and build up eye-watering amounts of national debt. In the last week the Claire Ridge oil and gas field has come on stream, and could realise 7bn barrels of oil and gas over the next 30 years. Is it not ironic that in the same week as this oil and gas announcement, I received a plea from the food banks in West Fife for urgent donations to see stocks of food and other essentials through to Christmas. Please donate if you can.

The bottom line is that Westminster can no longer be trusted to properly steward our resources.

Winter Weather

Talk of fog brings me neatly to winter weather and while the “Beast from the East” is a distant memory, it’s perhaps a timely reminder to take care as we approach the worst of the winter.

There are three new categories of warnings in place from Transport Scotland and Police Scotland. The first is Travel with Caution – which asks drivers to drive with extra caution as roads may be hazardous. The second is High Risk of Disruption – which may result in significant delays on route. Finally there’s – Avoid Travel on the Roads, which is self explanatory and may result in delays of 2 hours or more.

There’s lots of additional advice on the Transport Scotland website, @trafficscotland or if you have a smartphone you can download their App.

Finally – Brexit

Many will have seen my question to the Prime Minister last week. I asked what lessons the PM might have learned from the Brexit negotiations as we head to a Commons vote on December 11. At the moment I cannot see how I can vote for the deal that the PM has cobbled together and a no deal outcome would be a disaster for us all. For those who are taking a real interest in the future of our relationship with the EU, the next 10 days are going to be crucial and very busy for MPs. I’ll keep you updated every step of the way via my twitter account should you wish to follow me @dougchapmansnp

Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2019.