Another fracker on SNP’s think tank
A SECOND member of a commission advising Nicola Sturgeon on the economic blueprint for an independent Scotland has emerged as a supporter of fracking.
Dan Macdonald, an SNP donor appointed to its Growth Commission last week, published a report in the last weeks of the independence referendum campaign claiming Scotland could become a ‘global leader’ in the process.
He said underwater fracking could double the amount of revenue generated from the North Sea. At the time, his N-56 business group claimed it could be worth up to £2trillion.
Mr Macdonald, the founder and chief executive of the Macdonald Estates hotel company, was appointed to the commission by Miss Sturgeon.
He joins fellow fracking enthusiast Graeme Blackett of Biggar Economics, who will act as an economic adviser to the commission. He has previously claimed drilling underground coal and
turning it into gas – a technique almost identical to fracking – could give the economy a £13billion boost and create up to 12,000 jobs.
The commission is expected to discuss whether the current moratorium on fracking should be ended.
Scottish Labour environment spokesman Claudia Beamish said: ‘The Scottish parliament voted for an outright ban on fracking. It would be wrong for the SNP to ignore the will of the Scottish parliament.’
Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie said: ‘The SNP should take a stand against the new frontier of fossil fuels that fracking represents. We say no fracking in Scotland.’
Scottish Tory energy spokesman Alexander Burnett said: ‘As ever with the SNP, it’s saying one thing in private and something completely different in public.’
An SNP spokesman said: ‘The remit of the Growth Commission is set out on the SNP’s website. Membership of the commission does not indicate support or membership of the SNP.’