Police have been asked by a Tory MP to mount a criminal investigation into alleged intimidation by the Unite trade union against the bosses of the Grangemouth oil refinery.
Priti Patel, MP for Witham, in Essex, has written to police in Scotland and Hampshire regarded reported incidents involving the union's "leverage team".
She has asked the chief constable of Police Scotland Sir Stephen House to investigate media reports that the union sent large groups of protesters to the homes of senior staff at Ineos, the plant's owners, in an attempt to intimidate them .
And she has asked Hampshire chief constable Andy Marsh to investigate reports that it staged mass protests outside the Lymington Town sailing club, where Ineos chairman Jim Ratcliffe is a member, as well as a hotel he owns and a restaurant he has invested in.
"Not only did they target Mr Ratcliffe's business interests, but they also caused considerable concern to members of the public. I understand that the police were informed of this at the time," she wrote.
"Given the public interest in this case, I would be very grateful if you could investigate this as a matter of urgency."
A Unite spokesman said: "It is bizarre that these remarks should be made by Ms Patel, who was a paid apologist for the Bahraini dictatorship before entering Parliament.
"Why does she condemn peaceful protest by trade unionists involved in a legitimate industrial dispute, yet is mealy-mouthed about an authoritarian regime which tortures its own people? Yet again, it is an example of Tories bullying the weak while standing up for the powerful."
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