Our friends in the north

…Norway took from the beginning of the oil discoveries a low-depletion oil policy, like the one urged on the Conservatives’ Scottish Office by their economic adviser Dr Gavin McCrone in 1974. This was not done. Neither was there any Oil Fund, though this was promised by all parties in the second 1974 election. Instead Scotland was put on the drip feed of the Barnett Formula. What then happened to the Norwegian fund? Well, it’s now worth


In the course of his long stay in 11 Downing Street, Gordon Brown has looked across the North Sea as seldom as he has looked across the Channel. The Norwegians decided against EEC membership, but have remained helpfully semi-detached, an option which – given our continuing energy endowment – we should not dismiss lightly. The minority SNP government in Edinburgh has so far managed to think out of the box, and first minister Salmond (now armed with a Council of Economic Advisers including two Nobel prizewinners and the ex-Guardian Frances Cairncross) will visit Oslo next month. Expect developments.

The Guardian