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Cheadle MP votes to allow fracking under National Parks

by Lib Dem team on 17 December, 2015

Cheadle’s Conservative MP, Mary Robinson, voted  on Wednesday to allow fracking in National Parks – which could include the High Peak area on Stockport’s eastern border. No debate was allowed before the vote.

Image from Daily Telegraph

“Even if fracking works as the Conservatives believe, it will need big subsidies for several years and will not be any sort of solution to our energy problems. It beggars belief that the Government could sign up to the Paris Climate Change deal and then vote this through in the very same week.” said Cllr Iain Roberts.

“The reality is that fracking is untested in this country, apart from very small scale trials. This vote seems to have a lot more to do with boosting profits for certain private companies at the taxpayers’ expense than either generating more energy or protecting our environment.” Iain added.

Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats said on the Fracking issue:

The Government today relaxed the rules on fracking around and under National Parks and other protected sites. The Government used a parliamentary wheeze to pass the change with no parliamentary debate.

Last week the Government signed up to a landmark climate change deal and is now abandoning those pledges to create a market for another fossil fuel.

Our National Parks and areas of Scientific Interest are now at risk and the Government should hang its head in shame.

It is disgraceful that the government are ploughing ahead with fracking at the same time as scrapping the Carbon Capture and Storage scheme which is important for mitigating against climate change.

   18 Comments

18 Responses

  1. Bruce says:

    Fracking has been used in America for ages and opinion is divided and the jury is out. I say try it.

    As far as I can remember you ALWAYS include some anti-Tory comment. Incidentally is it a prerequisite of joining your party that you have to be a staunch anti-tory and oppose everything they stand for.

    And please don’t give the usual c**p about holding the government to account – you are just an anti-Tory party.

    And who cares what Tim Farron says.

    • Iain Roberts says:

      Hi Bruce,

      – love your comment about being staunch anti-Tory as a pre-requisite of joining the Lib Dems. No, it isn’t, but yes, most Lib Dems oppose the Tories and disagree with them. That’s pretty much how political parties work. We have different philosophies, views and perspectives and we campaign for our own.

      – clearly you care what Tim Farron says because you’re posting here trying to persuade everyone to ignore it!

      • Bruce says:

        Iain – you clearly do not understand the meaning of care so here it is :-

        Serious attention or consideration applied to doing something correctly or to avoid damage or risk.

        One may read something but not give a monkeys – which applies in this case to those comments by your leader.

        Also for your benefit the definition of persuade

        Cause (someone) to believe something, especially after a sustained effort.

        By the way your party obviously hate the Tories but you still formed an alliance with them even though you disagreed with everything they stood for. Wasn’t for the red cases was it?

  2. David Jphnson says:

    Immediately following the Paris agreement to take action to limit excess use of polluting fuels our Conservative Government orders that fracking is to be allowed throughout the country. Is this anything but laughing at the Global Agreement signed by our Prime Minister?

  3. Phil Johnson says:

    Well said Bruce

  4. Alan Gent says:

    Let’s face it, if you’re pro Tory, you have been seriously sucked in by their propaganda, TTIP, privatisation of the NHS, a massively increasing wealth gap between rich and poor and now avoiding debate to push through what will be a destructive and ugly – and unproven- form of energy extraction. This after chopping subsidies for solar power by 65%.
    All in this together? What a joke.

    • Halifax says:

      Alan, I am of the view that many MPs from are self serving, useless and spineless. Our present PM is a case in point., but he is far from unique.

      I’m fairly right wing, in respect of that we need smaller governments.

      Governments make poor choices as they have a very short time frame and represent the views of the minority (every government since the war has had more people voted against them, than for them)

      Yet when we had a chance to change this system we didn’t. We basically have the MPs we deserve

      I couldn’t understand why Scotland didn’t vote for independence, because at a stroke they could have rid themselves of 600 useless MPs

  5. David Williams says:

    Is this the Mary Robinson MP who lives near Preston? Met her door stepping just once prior to her general election appointment.

    To say she is our MP, then I and many other local residents would like to know how does she consult informally/formally to work on our behalf on local and national issues?

    • Ian says:

      Like it or not David the Good people of Cheadle had no confidence in the Liberal democrats at the last election for VERY obvious reasons and that is why the Tory candidate got in .we were spoiled with Mark Hunter being such a great representative for us . Cannot see a Lib MP back here soon.

      • Iain Roberts says:

        For all sorts of reasons the Tories won the last General Election, and the Lib Dems need to accept that we made mistakes in Coalition and we were punished for that more harshly than any other governing party has been punished for anything in recent history. We’re working hard to come back though and I’m confident we can win again in 2020 – especially given how poor our current MP has shown herself to be in representing the interests of local people.

        • Bruce says:

          Just because she doesn’t agree with your politics?

        • Halifax says:

          Iain, people tend to vote for the Party not the person, in many wards it matters little who is standing, so long as they have the right coloured rosette. The fact that out local MP is almost invisible is barely relevant.

          I use to vote LimDem, but I can’t see how you could win back my vote (or my wife’s), as both locally and nationally I think you are divorced from reality, and the concerns that many people have.

          However I think you have a good chance of getting back next time as you only need about 40% of the people who can be bothered to vote.

  6. Ian says:

    When you sit down and analyse the cost of providing power Fracking is a no brainer. Having worked in power generation for a large part of my career in coal and Nuclear stations in comparison to these methods Fracking is the Greener option. It is time the Government take control and get this programme running asap .

  7. Rick says:

    If these power companies want to use fracking to help make them mega bucks in the future then make them use their own money. Why should we subsidise them when the government refuse to subsidise the British steel industry?

  8. frederick kenny says:

    The Government is legally required under the climate change act to meet large reductions in CO2 emissions so this decision on Fracking in no way undermines this position.

    Gas is just about the lowest CO2 method of burning fossil fuels for power. It can also now be turned in petrol – it produces half the CO2 as Coal for the same output and no sulphur or other pollutants (NB for the record CO2 is not a toxic pollutant – its required to produce all our food for example).

    The country will be reliant on fossil fuels for many many years (eg Ships bunkers, aircraft etc – no alternatives exist) and we need to exploit our national resources as otherwise we have to import and rack up more debt (carefully and in line with strict environmental protections as per rules set up by Ed Davey Lib Dem Energy Minister in the last Government).

    Fracking is not allowed in National Parks – the drill at considerable depth can go under National Parks.

  9. David Thornton says:

    I’d rather have fracking than the horrendous, and inefficient, wind turbines that blight so many parts of the countryside now, they are an absolute eyesore.

  10. Mr S Powell says:

    It is time the Lib Dems stopped sticking their heads in the sand and faced reality – we need Fracking to stop our dependence on Foreign Gas suplies, and also to provide much needed jobs in this country – not to mention the reduction in the size of our energy bills.

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