SNP urges Better Together campaign to return Vitol donations

The Scottish National party has renewed calls for the cross-party campaign against Scottish independence to return donations from Ian Taylor, chief executive of oil trading house Vitol.

The SNP call followed an Independent newspaper report that said Vitol had been able to minimise its tax payments with the blessing of UK tax authorities, paying an average of just 10.5 per cent tax on global profits of $15bn over the past nine years.

Vitol said it has an open and transparent relationship with tax authorities in all the jurisdictions where it operates and pays "the correct level of tax in accordance with the appropriate legislation in each of these jurisdictions".

Supporters of Scottish independence have criticised the Better Together campaign for accepting £500,000 from Mr Taylor, despite controversies over Vitol dealings with nations such as Iran and the criticism of its tax affairs.

Angus Robertson, the SNP's leader in the Westminster parliament, said, "The Westminster system works for the few, for people like Ian Taylor - we want an independent Scotland because it will work for the many."

Better Together said: "These comments from the SNP are a revealing insight into the type of Scotland they want to create. Anyone who disagrees with them is subjected to personal attacks. Any and all opposition must be silenced."

Mr Taylor said, in a Sunday Herald newspaper article last year, that he decided to give £500,000 to Better Together after a meeting on the Scottish island of Lewis with Alistair Darling, leader of the campaign and former UK chancellor.

Mr Taylor said his experience in the oil sector made him doubt the SNP's "frankly astonishing" claims about Scotland's future oil revenues if the nation votes to leave the UK on September 18.

"We are a big company . . . it would be reckless of us to risk . . . livelihoods by gambling big stakes on what the future might hold," Mr Taylor wrote. "Sadly, when it comes to their language on oil, I see no sign of this responsibility coming from the Scottish government."

© The Financial Times Limited 2014. All rights reserved.
FT and Financial Times are trademarks of the Financial Times Ltd.
Not to be redistributed, copied or modified in any way.
Euro2day.gr is solely responsible for providing this translation and the Financial Times Limited does not accept any liability for the accuracy or quality of the translation