CEN RESPONDS TO TICE'S PLANS FOR FRACKING

Director of the Conservative Environment Network John Flesher said: 

"Reform and Labour are two sides of the same coin; making unachievable promises, backed up by ideas that melt on contact with reality.

"Claiming that it is our patriotic duty to permit fracking in Lincolnshire is farcical. Even if the ban on fracking were lifted, there remain significant obstacles in the form of massive community opposition and a lack of investor confidence. And even if fracking does commence, it would do nothing to cut Britain’s scandalously high energy bills.

"Fracking is a distraction from the real problems our country faces. Reform’s bet that they can destroy investment in domestic renewable energy while expecting fracking to bail them out is a reckless and unnecessary gamble with our energy security. Instead of Tice’s toxic combination of tariffs and nationalisation, we badly need to listen to businesses, cut taxes and regulation, and allow private investment to flow into innovative, clean energy from renewables to nuclear."