Scottish ministers have demanded devolved powers on oil and gas drilling after Westminster announced it will press ahead with plans to allow fracking companies to drill without the agreement of landowners.
The UK-wide plan would give companies the right to drill at depths of 300 metres or more under private land without negotiating a right of access.
Fergus Ewing, the SNP energy minister, said decisions on oil and gas drilling in Scotland should be made by the people who live there. The Department of Energy and Climate Change ran a consultation this year asking if the government should legislate for underground access to gas and oilbelow 300 metres.
More than 99 per cent of the 40,647 respondents opposed the idea, but the DECC said it will continue with the policy, saying it is the “right approach”.
Mr Ewing said: “Whatever your view on the issue of unconventional oil and gas, there is only one way that the people of Scotland can determine the approach in Scotland, including beneath their homes and land. That is with the devolution of the necessary powers and the current devolution process for the ‘extensive new powers’ promised in the vow should include these powers.