A UK Oil Fund?

[Simon]

A random idea I had but what effects, if any, might there be to the UK having a sovereign wealth fund funded by North Sea oil income similar to Norway's? I was thinking something along the lines of the Conservatives passing legislation in 1995 mandating that from 1996 onwards all oil revenues have to go into the fund, partly as a way of trying to regain their reputation for fiscal responsibility and partly to tie the hands of any future Labour governments. The elephant in the room is of course Scottish independence since the SNP claiming a 'fair' share of it for any prospective future independent state might help bolster their economic arguments, but I was interested to see what else people might be able to think of.

 

[Arthur_Phuxache]

A random idea I had but what effects, if any, might there be to the UK having a sovereign wealth fund funded by North Sea oil income similar to Norway's?

Not buying Trident and/or smaller unemployment benefit payments.

 

[Jape]

I think the main reason it never got taken seriously in Britain is we have only a fraction of Norway's oil reserves but many times the population, spreading the fund a bit thin.

 

[Japhy]

Not buying Trident and/or smaller unemployment benefit payments.

Norway seems to be doing fine

 

[Arthur_Phuxache]

Norway seems to be doing fine

Norway population during NSO boom: 4M.

UK population during NSO boom: 55M.
(UK unemployment during NSO boom - 3M)

Permanent Seat on UNSC, Norway: 0

Permanent Seat on UNSC, UK: 1

 

[Gorewood]

The elephant in the room is that they've been spending the oil revenues for 15 years or so.
It would still be a pretty penny by now if they'd started in 1996, but Labour doing it as a "look how we invest in Britain's future" change in '97 seems more likely to me.