Liz Truss news – live: Fracking U-turn means communities ‘treated like guinea pigs’
Labour calls policy ‘dangerous experiment’
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The government’s decision to lift its fracking moratorium means that people living in rural areas will be treated “like guinea pigs”, critics have said.
On Thursday, business and energy secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said the move would increase the country’s energy security and would drive down bills.
But politicians and environmental campaigners pointed out that ministers have yet to release evidence that drilling for shale gas is safe. They also said it was “nonsense” that fracking would drive down energy bills.
“That they choose to plough on regardless shows a callous disregard for our communities and countryside. From Surrey to Somerset, the government is treating people in rural areas like guinea pigs,” Liberal Democrat MP Wera Hobhouse said.
Speaking in the Commons, shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said the policy could lead to earthquakes, adding that people in counties like Lancashire and Dorset would be part of a “dangerous experiment”.
Addressing the U-turn directly, he said: "Let me tell the party opposite: we will hang this broken promise around their necks in every part of the country between now and the next general election."
Politicians and campaigners lambast government over lifting of fracking moratorium
Politicians and environmental campaigners have said the government’s lifting of its fracking moratorium shows a “callous disregard for our communities and countryside”.
Danny Gross, a campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said the announcement “would send shockwaves through local communities” and would pose a risk to their safety.
“The reality is that fracking will have a negligible impact on energy bills, while sending more climate-changing emissions into the atmosphere. Little wonder that it is one of the least popular forms of energy generation,” he said.
“The government should listen to the science and develop an energy strategy fit for the future, not one stuck in the failings of the past. That means investing in insulation and the UK’s vast resources of cheap, clean and popular renewables.”
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats’ environment spokesperson Wera Hobhouse said fracking was potentially unsafe.
“The government’s own experts have refused to say fracking is safe,” she said.
“That they choose to plough on regardless shows a callous disregard for our communities and countryside. From Surrey to Somerset, the government are treating people in rural areas like guinea pigs.
“The Conservatives’ obsession with fracking lays bare that they don’t actually think that climate change is happening and are not willing to take the urgent action needed.”
“If people suffer polluted water and dangerous earthquakes, this decision will prove unforgivable,” she added.
Government’s NHS plans ‘tone deaf’, says BMA chair
Therese Coffey’s NHS plans will “make no tangible difference” to patient care, the chair of the British Medical Association has warned.
Dr Farah Jameel said it was “good to see” a health secretary who acknowledged the problems with general practice, but added that the government’s policies included “a new set of ill advised undeliverable targets”.
Under the proposals, GPs will be expected to see patients within two weeks.
However, Dr Jameel stressed that this did not address the cause of the problem - the workforce crisis.
“The target of GPs now offering appointments within two weeks is simply another addition to a tick-box culture highlighting a tone-deaf government approach when it comes to those delivering the service on the ground,” she said.
Royal College of GPs speaks out against Coffey’s NHS policies
The Royal College of GPs (RCGP) has said Therese Coffey should have asked its members how to fix the sector’s problems.
Instead, the health secretary decided to introduce new guidelines, requiring GPs to see patients for non-urgent appointments within two weeks.
This risks further exacerbating the crisis in general practice, the RCGP warned.
“Lumbering a struggling service with more expectations, without a plan as to how to deliver them, will only serve to add to the intense workload and workforce pressures GPs and our teams are facing,” Professor Martin Marshall, the chair of the organisation, said.
He added that the new policies would have a “minimal impact” on patient care.
Labour calls Rees-Mogg’s claim about fracking ‘nonsense'
Business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg has justified the government’s lifting of its fracking ban by saying it is “more environmentally friendly” to use “our own sources of fuel” than to extract them from elswhere.
He also suggested fracking would help cut bills, a claim Labour dismissed as “nonsense”.
Addressing Mr Rees-Mogg in the Commons, shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband added that the government hadn’t provided any evidence that fracking could be done safely.
Angry Tory MPs oppose end of fracking ban
Mark Menzies, Tory MP for Fylde in Lancashire, told Mr Rees-Mogg there was “nothing luddite” about the concerns of his constituents.
He said Ms Truss had been “crystal clear” that fracking would require local consent.
The “red wall” Tory backbencher said the government should outline how local consent would be given if Ms Truss was to remain “a woman of her word, a woman we can believe him”.Mark Fletcher, Tory MP for Bolsover, also shared his frustration.
“The local consent plans don’t seem to wash. It seems to come back to local communities being bought off rather than having a vote,” he said – challenging the minister to say if residents will get a vote.
Mr Rees-Mogg did not answer directly, saying only the companies will have a responsibility to “develop packages that make the extraction of shale gas attractive to local communities”. Mr Fletcher was seen shaking his head.
Public safety ‘not a currency in which to speculate’, Tory MP tells Rees-Mogg
Another Tory MP has said the government’s U-turn on its fracking ban is unwise.
Sir Greg Knight, MP for East Yorkshire, said shale gas extraction could pose a risk to the safety of Britons.
Addressing energy secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg, he said: “Is he aware the safety of the public is not a currency in which some of us chose to speculate?”
The minister denied that the move would endanger the public.
Chancellor’s mini-budget set to leave poorest ‘out in the cold’
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) urged chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng to go beyond tax cuts and offer more support for those most in need – warning that the poorest looked set to be “left out in the cold” at the mini-budget on Friday.
New analysis from JRF found that low-income families on means-tested benefits face a gap of £450 between now and April just to keep up with predicted price rises.
“The current support package doesn’t yet give families the security of knowing they can afford the essentials, and the tax cuts mooted do little to help them either,” said Rebecca McDonald, JRF’s chief economist.
She added: “Hard-pressed families can’t afford to wait to see if the benefits of tax cuts trickle down. They need help now.”
Rees-Mogg dismisses fracking expert’s concerns
Energy secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg has dismissed the founder of fracking company Caudrilla’s suggestion that shale gas extraction has no future in the UK.
Speaking in the Commons, Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said: “I’m fascinated that the secretary of state thinks that he knows more about the geology of the UK than the geologist who founded Caudrilla.”
She added that there was no support for fracking from local communities.
In response, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “In relation to Caudrilla, the gentleman in question, I believe, left the company 10 years ago, so he is somewhat out of date in terms of the company that he purports to represent. The current management of Caudrilla are in favour of this.”
Labour’s Dame Angela Eagle replied: “I take it a bit rich from the self-styled minister for the 19th century that he thinks the CEO of Caudrilla is out of date.”
Fracking an ‘expensive and dangerous distraction’, says Green Party
The Green Party has said fracking is an “expensive and dangerous distraction” from the need to improve home insulation and renewable energy.
Its co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: “Fracking will deepen our country’s dependence on fossil fuels.”
“It will not bring down fuel bills for people who are struggling and will cause more damage to local communities and to the climate.”
Channel crossings to UK in 2022 top 30,000
At least 30,000 people have attempted to cross the English Channel to the UK this year, according to government figures.
In 2021, there were 28,561 crossings in total.
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