Campaigners accuse SNP of misleading the public over fracking stance after moratorium
THE SNP has been accused of misrepresenting its position over fracking in a bid to win votes at the General Election after ministers refused to spell out how far-reaching a temporary ban on the controversial technique is.
The party has issued official green badges which include the SNP ribbon and the term ‘Frack Off’, the slogan widely used by anti-fracking campaigners who support an outright ban on unconventional oil and gas extraction, to activists across Scotland during the campaign.
However, despite apparent efforts to present the party as antifracking, Energy Minister Fergus Ewing has refused to explain what a moratorium, which he announced in January, means to energy firms and has not ruled out fracking once it expires.
Labour energy spokesman Lewis Macdonald submitted a series of questions in February, asking the Scottish Government to confirm if the moratorium would prevent firms testing for fracking, carrying out commercial feasibility studies and whether other environmentally controversial energy extraction techniques would be covered.
But despite answers being due by the middle of last month, only ‘holding responses’ have been issued, meaning it is increasingly unlikely that they will be answered ahead of the election.
Mr Macdonald accused the SNP of misleading the public over the issue, with the Scottish Government refusing to rule out allowing fracking at some point in the future. Ministers have said a public consultation and further research will take place before a decision is made.
He added: “Anyone who is thinking of voting SNP because of this apparent opposition to fracking should think twice.”
“I think they’re telling big companies that there’s nothing to worry about at the same time as telling protesters they’re on their side. It’s all part of them wanting to appear left wing, but at the same time presenting themselves as a safe option to business.”
Ineos, the firm which holds 729 sq miles of fracking exploration licences across central Scotland, strongly opposed a moratorium in the run-up to it being announced by Mr Ewing, but then appeared to welcome the move. It later emerged that Nicola Sturgeon had been meeting with Ineos chief Jim Ratcliffe while her Energy Minister was announcing the moratorium.
Ed Pybus, spokesman for Frack Off Scotland, said: “It’s clear that the SNP are not anti-fracking.”
An SNP spokesman said: “The SNP Government acted and announced a moratorium on fracking in January – compared to Scotland’s Labour MPs, who failed to vote for a moratorium in the House of Commons.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government is continuing to take a cautious, evidence-based approach to all issues relating to unconventional oil and gas, and underground coal gasification.”