The UK government is responsible for UK energy policy and it has signalled a firm commitment to hydraulic fracturing for shale gas as part of its overall strategy. Yet, the Scottish Government announced an indefinite moratorium in 2017. To explain this puzzling outcome we use the Advocacy Coalition Framework to show that Scotland possesses a separate fracking subsystem, with its own actors and coalitions, ‘nested’ in a UK subsystem. We identify those actors and their stated beliefs. The Scottish Government is the key player. It initially expressed a reluctance to declare support or opposition to fracking until it announced a temporary moratorium in 2015 and an indefinite moratorium in 2017. We combine documentary analysis with a new media coding method to capture and explain this major shift.
