Newly unearthed archive papers have revealed that Labour ministers were repeatedly advised in the 1970s to set up an oil fund to secure a legacy from the North Sea.
The documents show that Jim Callaghan's government chose to spend the tax revenues from oil immediately instead of setting up the fund, leaving the UK and Iraq as the only oil-producing nations in the world without some form of savings fund.
Norway's oil fund is now worth £500 billion.
The Sunday Herald revealed the existence of the papers yesterday.
The files' discovery followed an appearance by former government economist Professor Gavin McCrone at Holyrood's Finance Committee.
In 1974, McCrone wrote a now-famous report for ministers predicting Scotland would become "as rich as Switzerland" if it controlled North Sea oil - a prediction that was kept from voters.
Last week, he told MSPs he had also written a second paper, in 1976, arguing for an oil fund. Marked "Secret", the paper recommended a North Sea Oil investment fund for the whole UK, but gave "especial priority to Scotland".
Click here to read the secret 1976 report in full
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