Ex-leader slams SNP’s ‘cowardly’ ban on fracking
Poor families will freeze, warns Sillars
A FORMER SNP deputy leader has launched a scathing attack on the party’s ‘cowardly’ decision to ban fracking, describing the move as ‘total madness’.
Jim Sillars yesterday claimed that thousands of families across Scotland will suffer a freezing winter in a bid to cut their energy bills – a plight that the Scottish Government could have stopped.
He said that he was willing to lead a challenge against the ‘nonsensical’ ban announced earlier this week.
Hydraulic fracturing – commonly known as fracking – involves pumping water at high pressure into rock, forcing it to crack and release gas.
Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse announced a ban this week on the use of the technique – despite the Scottish Government’s own research showing it could bring 3,100 jobs and £6.5billion of investment.
Yesterday, Nicola Sturgeon emphasised her stance on outlawing the process, saying: ‘Fracking is being banned in Scotland, end of story.‘
But Mr Sillars believes that the First Minister has bowed to pressure in a move that could leave thousands of families unable to heat their homes.
He said: ‘I wouldn’t like to be the person from Labour or the SNP who knocks on doors in the middle of deprived areas and tells them we have gas, but you will have to freeze.’
Describing how he knows from his childhood what it feels like to ‘live in a house without proper heating’ he said he believed the SNP should be doing everything possible to prevent youngsters from living in ‘freezing’ homes.
The decision to ban fracking was likely to do the opposite, he added, and could ‘profoundly’ affect families and the economy.
Mr Sillars said: ‘The damage has been done and the situation is that poorer families will freeze in
‘Campaign of scaremongering’
their homes this winter while rich farmers coin it in for having wind turbines on their land – millions for no other reason than having turbines.
‘Poor people in poorer areas of Scotland are being denied a reduction in their heating costs. It’s a long time since I’ve been so angry at a decision and I know it will have a very profound effect.
‘I think it’s cowardice. They’re not prepared to stand up against the green agenda – even though they have had evidence that it is safe.’
He went on to accuse Miss Sturgeon of being duped by savvy marketing campaigns saying: ‘The marketing has been great. Organisations like Friends of the Earth – who isn’t a friend of the Earth? – so the marketing of the organisation has been brilliant.
‘They have had campaign after campaign of scaremongering.’
Despite the First Minister’s comments on having the final word on fracking, Mr Sillars said that the decision to ban it could change if there is enough public pressure.
He pledged that he was ‘prepared to challenge the nonsensical idea’. He claimed: ‘It is high time the general public woke up to the pseudo science being fed to us. It is a total madness.’
Yesterday, the Daily Mail revealed that the SNP had rejected invitations to see a fracking site in the United States before banning the practice – for which they have received widespread criticism.
Ministers have been accused of ignoring the evidence of the possible social and economic benefits.
During First Minister’s Questions, Miss Sturgeon was asked whether extending the current moratorium on fracking was a legally watertight way to ban the practice – or if it could be easily reversed.
The SNP leader said that it was the quickest way to get a ban in place, adding: ‘Fracking is being banned in Scotland, end of story.
‘There will be no fracking in Scotland. I don’t think that position could be any clearer.’
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