Salmond sets out demands for oil revenues to Brown

ALEX Salmond has taken the first formal move to try to wrest control of at least some of the UK's oil revenues from the UK Treasury.

The First Minister has written to Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, asking for a share of the estimated 4 billion to 5 billion in extra income which the UK government is due to make in tax from the rapidly escalating price of oil.

Mr Salmond has also called for the creation of a Scottish oil fund, putting money aside for the time when the oil runs out.

But Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, made it clear yesterday he has no intention of dividing the extra oil tax revenue from the rest of government income, stating that some tax increases were going up while others were going down and the whole lot had to be seen as one package.

In his letter, Mr Salmond said: "The UK government needs to concede the principle and the justice of Scotland having direct access to a share of the tax receipts from our own oil and gas resources so that we can start to build a capital fund to power forward the Scottish economy."