How English fracking ‘may heat Scottish family homes’
SCOTLAND could be forced to rely on shale gas fracked in England to heat homes, Nicola Sturgeon has been warned.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson demanded the First Minister ‘gives the country some proper answers’ on whether the controversial process will be given the green light in Scotland.
She said: ‘Nobody is well served by a government that hides from view and kicks this into the long grass.
Miss Davidson challenged Miss Sturgeon on the issue two days after the first giant tanker filled with shale gas arrived at the Ineos chemical plant in Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, from the US.
The firm claimed it would have had to close – with 10,000 jobs lost – if the gas had not been imported.
Ineos is hoping to introduce fracking in Scotland but the Scottish Government has put in place a moratorium on the process and is awaiting the results of research before carrying out a public consultation.
Ministers will then make a decision on whether or not to allow the gas extraction. They have so far refused to take a position on the issue and snubbed an event marking the arrival of the imported fuel.
Miss Davidson said: ‘This is a First Minister that doesn’t want to admit that her Government’s failure on energy will leave us reliant on others to keep our homes heated.
‘There are 10,000 jobs in central Scotland reliant on shale gas coming here from other countries but we have no answers on shale gas at home.’
Miss Davidson accused the SNP of ‘total double standards on this matter’, adding: ‘They have leapt on their high horse, preached about a moratorium and boasted that they’re the planet’s best friend.
‘But when the gas is poured into a tanker and shipped all the way across the Atlantic to our shores, then they turn a blind eye.
‘It’s quite possible that shale gas in the rest of the UK will get the goahead soon. Providers say much of that gas will go to Grangemouth and end up in the national grid, powering many Scottish homes.’
Miss Sturgeon told her the Scottish Government was ‘taking a cautious, evidence-based approach to the issue of shale gas and fracking’.
They clashed during First Minister’s Questions, with Miss Sturgeon telling Miss Davidson it was a ‘bit rich’ for her to challenge the SNP on energy given the UK Government’s support for nuclear power.
She insisted her Government would not ‘play fast and loose with our environment’, adding: ‘I appreciate that the position of the Scottish Conservatives is to ride roughshod over local opinion, over environmental concerns, over the range of other concerns that have been raised.’
Last night, Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur called on the First Minister to rule out fracking.
He said: ‘Ruth Davidson is right that we need answers from the SNP over fracking but dead wrong in her calls for us to open up another carbon front in our fight against harmful emissions.’