Fashion designer, Dame Vivienne Westwood, and her son, Joe Corre, have accused the Government of hypocrisy over its policies on plastics and fracking.

In a protest outside Downing Street on UN World Environment Day, the pair targeted Ineos Upstream, the company with the largest number of UK onshore shale gas licences.

Ineos imports ethane from US shale gas for its European plastics business. It has told communities in south Yorkshire it hopes to find ethane in local shale gas.

Dame Vivienne and Mr Corre were joined by a group of campaigners to deliver a card to Downing Street with the message:

“Why does the Government’s industrial policy allow Ineos to Frack4Plastics?”

They said despite the Government’s recently announced “war on plastic”, the industrial policy gave plastic production a higher priority than energy.

Mr Corre, who heads the campaign group, Talk Fracking, said:

“It’s impossible to reconcile the Government’s War on Plastic with its policy on fracking when they’re clearly enabling the creation of yet more problem plastic. It’s sheer hypocrisy.”

The protest drew on research by Food & Water Watch and Food & Water Watch Europe. The organisations’ Executive Director, Wenonah Hauter, said:

“Anyone who cares about the climate crisis, the increasing burden of global plastics pollution, and the air and water pollution associated with petrochemical manufacturing should get active in the fight to stop INEOS from fracking the UK.”