North Sea oil fund

An interesting story that came out of BBC Scotland's recent documentary on North Sea oil, another memo (although this time not actually produced or quoted) by the former Scottish Office economist Gavin McCrone. In this one, McCrone urged the UK government (then Labour) to establish a North Sea oil fund, a la Norway, to take full advantage of revenue from the new industry. Written in 1976 and despite it being Conservative policy, neither James Callaghan's government, or Margaret Thatcher's new administration in 1979, did anything about it.