CommonSpace columnist Yvonne Ridley says there are big corporate interests in fracking and the public should welcome intervention from politicians like Mhairi Black
I SEE Britain’s youngest MP has been rocking the boat in Westminster by saying the Tories could still force fracking on the Scottish nation.
Instead of supporting her bold stance, a Labour spokesman accused Mhairi Black of spouting "misleading nonsense" over the hotly-debated environmental issue.
If indeed Black has misled anyone then she’s learned quickly from the masters of deception who perform daily from the government front benches just a few yards from where she sits to those back-stabbing Blairites who sit even closer on her right.
If indeed Black has misled anyone then she’s learned quickly from the masters of deception who perform daily from the government front benches just a few yards from where she sits.
The truth is, despite her youthful looks and being the wee’un in Westminster, Black is nobody’s fool … let’s just remember this is the same lass who had the audacity to go for the Labour safe seat of Paisley and Renfrewshire South last year when she was in the process of completing her finals as a politics student at Glasgow University.
Not only did she knock the shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander from his 16,000 majority seat with a staggering 23,000 votes of her own but she went on to get a first class honours degree, completing her dissertation only after she had ousted the political heavyweight to become the youngest member at Westminster since the Reform Act of 1832.
On top of that she went on to make one of the most memorable maiden speeches heard for a long time in Westminster, which drew admiration from the hard-to-please, cynical and jaded lobby journalists as well as many of those in the House. She even reminded the House, to the annoyance of the Balirites, of the great socialist roots of Labour, saluting the late Tony Benn while doing so.
Therefore if, in her humble opinion, she is fearful the UK Government could overrule Holyrood and "impose fracking on Scotland" then I would tend to believe her over most of the self-serving rabble in Westminster.
If, in her humble opinion, she is fearful the UK Government could overrule Holyrood and "impose fracking on Scotland" then I would tend to believe her over most of the self-serving rabble in Westminster.
The Cameron-led government has performed more U-turns than the architect of Spaghetti Junction and one of the best examples of its duplicity came about during the unravelling of 'The Vow' outside Downing Street the morning after the independence referendum.
So if anyone has a track record for telling porkies it’s the UK Government and those who collaborated with the Tories during the independence referendum – not the youthful member for Paisley and Renfrewshire South.
The truth is even if the Scottish Government imposes a ban on fracking any company has a right to appeal against the decision and, having exhausted the legal process in the Scottish courts we all know such a case could well end up in London’s supreme court.
Any smart QC would then play off the Scottish and Westminster governments, and now that a precedent has been set with a fracking licence granted to Ryedale in North Yorkshire, Mhairi Black is quite right to blow the whistle.
But let’s just remember the stakes are very high when it comes to fracking – where there is oil and gas there are treacherous people in powerful positions who will, and have, done terrible things in the name of the 'black stuff' … there are those who’ve even launched war on a tissue of lies just to make sure they can secure vast oil fields as one million Iraqi widows would no doubt testify.
The truth is even if the Scottish Government imposes a ban on fracking any company has a right to appeal and, having exhausted the legal process in the Scottish courts we all know such a case could well end up in London’s supreme court.
So when it comes to a bit of political chicanery and duplicity, the UK Government has previous as do some of those sitting on the Labour benches who were instrumental in Blairite plans to introduce tuition fees to universities, and let’s not forget the great private finance initiative, or 'PFI swindle', as it has become known.
The good news is Scotland’s new energy minister, Paul Wheelhouse, has said he is also "deeply sceptical" about allowing fracking after it emerged that the petrochemical giant Ineos is still trying to promote the shale gas extraction technique which has devastated many communities in the US.
Wheelhouse said the controversial extraction methods would not be permitted in Scotland unless it could be proved "beyond doubt that there is no risk to health, communities or the environment".
However, some of us believe the SNP moratorium on fracking does not go far enough while there are others who will not rest until the Scottish Government imposes a complete ban.
Ineos director of corporate affairs, Tom Cotty, reckons Scotland is "missing out" on the shale gas revolution at a time when North Sea tax revenues are in decline. (Oh! Having oil is such a curse, isn't it?) Ineos, which employs around 1,300 staff in Scotland, says it will soon import shale gas from America for its Grangemouth refinery and plant, the country’s largest industrial site.
Any smart QC would then play off the Scottish and Westminster governments, and now that a precedent has been set with a fracking licence granted to Ryedale in North Yorkshire, Mhairi Black is quite right to blow the whistle.
A spokesman for Wheelhouse told media: "We are deeply sceptical about fracking and have ensured that no fracking can take place in Scotland by putting in place a moratorium. We've also put in place a very thorough research programme and plans for a public consultation – so that any decision is based on both evidence and public opinion."
For a company like Ineos it must be rather frustrating that the words of a 21-year-old Westminster MP are valued more highly by Scottish voters than the Tory grandees in the UK Government, and that the SNP's energy minister also appears to be immune to a bit of corporate arm twisting.
Putting people before political and financial gain is an alien concept in the world of big business and I would be surprised if the Tories are not looking for loopholes right now. Black is right to raise concerns and blow the whistle on a ruthless industry.
The CommonSpace opinion section is an open platform for anyone who wants to voice their views and does not represent the editorial position of CommonSpace itself. If you'd like to have a piece published, email CommonSpace editor Angela Haggerty at angela@common.scot
Picture courtesy of Yvonne Ridley
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