Scottish Parliament votes for total fracking ban

The SNP abstained on the issue but Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems overruled them

Drilling equipment at an exploration site for fracking in Balcombe, Sussex (Getty Images)

The Scottish Parliament has voted to support a ban on fracking north of the border.

Labour, the Green Party and the Liberal Democrats joined forces to vote for the ban, with the Conservatives voting against it.

The Scottish National Party, which currently runs a minority government in Scotland abstained on the issue.

The motion was passed by 32 votes to 29. It is non-binding on the Government, but opposition politicians say it would be wrong to ignore the will of the parliament.

The SNP's manifesto for last month’s elections to the parliament committed to a fracking ban “unless it can be proven beyond doubt that there is no risk to health, communities or the environment”.

Scottish Labour’s environment spokesperson, Claudia Beamish said the Scottish Government needed to make its position clear.

“The SNP government must now clarify whether or not they will respect the will of parliament and introduce an outright ban on fracking. It would be outrageous for this important vote to be ignored,” she said.

“There is no doubt about the science – to meet our climate change goals and protect our environment we need to develop low carbon sources of energy, not another fossil fuel. Labour’s position is clear: no ifs, no buts, no fracking.”

SNP energy minister Paul Wheelhouse said the party’s position was in line with its manifesto commitments.

“We are deeply sceptical about fracking and, through our moratorium, we have ensured that no fracking can take place in Scotland,” he said.

“Our abstention in this parliamentary vote respects and is in line with that moratorium.”

Some Conservatives spoke out in favour of fracking. MSP Maurice Golden claimed that a “leftwing cabal” in the parliament was ignoring scientific evidence.

Fracking is a controversial drilling process for extracting shale gas and oil from rocks by injecting high-pressure water and chemicals into crevices in the ground.

Environmentalists say the potentially carcinogenic chemicals injected into the ground in the process can seep into groundwater and that more fossil fuels are not a long-term solution to environmental challenges like climate change.

Supporters of fracking say it provides cheap fossil fuel energy.

A number of academic studies have suggested that unless fossil fuels are left in the ground climate change would reach catastrophic levels.