Polyolefins giant Ineos has challenged the Scottish Labour Party to supply evidence supporting its calls for an immediate ban on fracking. With the support of the Green and Liberal Democrat parties and the governing Scottish National Party (SNP) abstaining, a non-binding resolution with that intent narrowly passed the Scottish Parliament on Jun. 1. The Conservative (Tory) Party voted against it.

Terming Labour’s arguments against fracking “untrue and disingenuous,” Gary Haywood, chief executive of Ineos Shale, which has recently won a number of exploration licenses from the UK government, called for a face-to-face meeting with the party to "properly understand" its concerns and “make the case for a fair hearing” for shale gas development in Scotland.

In a letter to Claudia Beamish, the Labour MSP who introduced the anti-fracking legislation in Parliament, Ineos, which operates the mammoth petrochemical complex at Grangemouth, Scotland, said the company was “very surprised” at the party environment spokesperson’s conclusion that “the last thing our planet needs is another fossil fuel.”

This, Haywood said, implies that Labour is “is now against fossil fuel development in general,” despite the fact that fracking has been used “extensively and safely” in the North Sea for many years.” It also suggests, he added, that the party may “intend to commit the people of Scotland to a near term future without sufficient heat and power.”

The Ineos executive argued also that producing shale gas in Scotland could be preferable to importing US shale-derived ethane from the US, as the Swiss-based company is now doing – to feed its crackers at Grangemouth and in Norway. Especially an indigenous industry would keep jobs and prosperity in Scotland, he said.

Only recently, Ineos said it would turn its back on Scotland and concentrate on England, where the UK government recently overturned a local council’s decision not to allow an exploration project, and Scotland would “miss out” on the shale gas revolution.

In the wake of the company’s offensive, the ex-deputy leader of the SNP in parliament, Jim Sillars, turned the party’s previous wait-and-see stance on its ear. In an attack on Labour, the Greens and segments of his own party, he said “the anti-fracking lobby” was motivated by “hysteria.”

Responding to the invitation to a meeting with the petrochemical producer, a Labour spokesman told Scottish media that the party “will be happy to meet with representatives from Ineos, but our position is clear – no ifs, no buts, no fracking."

Late last year, the Scottish government extended its moratorium on fracking to await the results of an ongoing public consultation and safety studies. At the same time, however, it said it was still skeptical of the technology’s chances to be accepted in Scotland.