AN ATTEMPT by some members of the SNP to completely ban fracking was narrowly defeated at its conference yesterday.

The SNP has faced growing pressure from local communities as well as its own members to come clean on its position on fracking over the past few months.

However Nicola Sturgeon has also been holding meetings with Ineos boss Jim Ratcliffe, whose company had a stall at the conference and has fracking exploration licences across 700sq miles of Scotland.

Several speakers opposing fracking and underground coal gasification called for a motion from the SNP Leith branch, which backed the Scottish government’s current moratorium, to be remitted and strengthened.

However, the motion in support of the moratorium ultimately won by 550 votes to 427.

One of the founding members of SNP Members Against Unconventional Gas, Iain Black, told delegates that “the evidence and the science absolutely and overwhelmingly supports the ban.”

Scottish Green MSP Patrick Harvie criticised the SNP for putting off making a decision on an issue which will have a huge impact on local communities, saying the “motion passed at their conference still leaves the door open to fracking companies.”