SNP right to halt fracking

I SUPPOSE it is easy to be gung-ho about fracking like ­Alexander McKay (Letters, 8 February) when you live in Edin­burgh and your agenda is to slag off the SNP Government on any and every issue.

However, to those of us in Lancashire who are experiencing, now, the real threat of fracking to our environment, communities and everyday lives, using fracking as a political football against the SNP seems somewhat disingenuous. The test drillings by Cuadrilla between Preston and Blackpool on the Fylde coast have already engendered unacceptable earth tremors, traffic disruption and noise pollution.

Nor am I impressed by Dr Jim Hay’s “assurances” ­(Letters, 8 February) that fracking “processes are safe and there will be no damage to the environment… provided the developers adhere to the safety regulations laid down for the process”. We just need to look at the catastrophes caused by Exxon in Alaska and BP in the Gulf of Mexico to see how well international blue-chip companies conform to regulation and safe processes.

Would that we had a government this side of the Border that would take a stance against fracking like the SNP.

Glenn Stephen, Preston