Labour 'will ban fracking'

Shadow energy minister Alan Whitehead said the Government decision to allow fracking in Lancashire was "riding roughshod over the opposition of local people and a previous ruling by the local council".
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Jul 2018, 18:11 BST
Updated 24th Jul 2018, 19:27 BST
Cuadrilla's rig at Preston New RoadCuadrilla's rig at Preston New Road
Cuadrilla's rig at Preston New Road

He said: "Overwhelmingly people don't want to take the unnecessary risk with fracking, to our natural environment and the purity of our water.

"Labour will ban fracking, instead committing to building our renewables sector and sourcing 60 per cent of our energy from clean, green sources by 2030," he said.

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Government give Cuadrilla the go-ahead to start fracking at Lancashire site
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Frack Free Lancashire said it was saddened that the Secretary of State has granted permission for Cuadrilla to frack regardless of the opposition of local councils, MPs and population.

“They have now proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that localism is a sham.

“The irony of allowing this water-intensive industry to go ahead at exactly the moment when the country is in the grip of the worst drought for 40 years and the area in which Cuadrilla will be fracking has been hit with a hosepipe ban, will be lost on nobody.

“The fact that they are also proposing to kill off small-scale renewable investment by removing the feed-in tariffs at the same time as enabling fracking is further evidence that this government's energy policy is hopelessly out-of-step with the real world and the issues that we all face as a result of imminent climate change."

Related topics:LancashireGovernmentMPsLabour