Government in a panic over the issue of fracking !!!

Government Ministers have imposed a 3 line whip on their back-bench lobby fodder to defeat an opposition motion on fracking, and stated that any MP who ignores the whip will lose the whip and their membership of the 'nasty sleaze party' !!!


Tory MPs ordered to defeat Labour attempt to ban fracking or lose party whip
‘This is a confidence motion in the government’, deputy chief whip says – ahead of vote later

Rob Merrick
Deputy Political Editor
1 hour ago
6 Comments


Conservative MPs have been ordered to defeat a Labour attempt to ban the return of fracking or be stripped of the party whip, ahead of a vote later.

In an extraordinary instruction, the Tory deputy chief whip has declared the clash “a confidence motion” – a status normally given to a vote on the future of a government itself.


It “is a 100 per cent hard 3 line whip”, an email to Conservative MP reads, adding: “This is not a motion on fracking. This is a confidence motion in the government.”


A senior Labour source said that the decision offered a “two-for-one deal” for disgruntled Tory MPs: “You can not only vote for your opposition to fracking, but also vote your opposition to the prime minister”.

But Downing Street sources insisted that the PM will not resign if she loses the division, as would normally be the case with a confidence vote.

The wording suggests any rebels will lose the party whip if they join Labour in voting to guarantee parliamentary time for a bill to ban drilling for shale gas – after ministers refused a vote on the controversy.


And it creates enormous difficulties for the dozens of Tory MPs who have vowed to oppose the return of fracking and demanded a mechanism for local people to block any wells.

In an attempt to buy off potential rebels, business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg promised MPs a vote on a consultation to decide the method for determining local support for any proposed fracking scheme.

At prime minister’s questions in the Commons, Liz Truss said the government will “consult on the robust system of local consent, give clear advice on seismic limits and safety before any fracking takes place.”


The consultation will consider ”all of the relevant people, the regional mayors, local authorities and parishes, as well as the concerns of those directly affected”, she said.


The Cop26 president, Alok Sharma, the housing minister Lee Rowley and the Cabinet Office minister Brendan Clarke-Smith are among senior figures who have spoken out.

The email, sent by deputy chief whip Craig Whittaker, reads: “I know this is difficult for some colleagues, but we simply cannot allow this. Please speak with your whip with any issues.”

Labour is staging an opposition day vote which, if it passes, would set aside Commons time in late November to force a further binding vote on fracking itself.

The tactic is a repeat of the way opponents of a no-deal Brexit seized control of the agenda to prevent Boris Johnson taking the UK out of the EU without an agreement, in 2019.

Ed Miliband MP, Labour’s shadow climate change secretary, called on Conservative MPs who oppose fracking to “put country over party”

“Today, Conservative MPs have a simple choice; do they break the manifesto commitments they made to their constituents and allow the government to impose expensive, unsafe fracking on communities that do not want it, or will they support Labour’s ban on fracking once and for all,” he said.

But Mr Whittaker has written: “We cannot, under any circumstances, let the Labour party take control of the order paper and put through their own legislation and whatever other bits of legislation they desire.”

Government ministers, led by Ms Truss, have claimed the soaring price of gas had created an opportunity for the UK to exploit its reserves through fracking.

But the argument was dismissed by the head of a government watchdog, who warned it would not ease the UK’s energy crisis and could cause “serious” environmental damage.

Lord Deben, chair of the independent Climate Change Committee, urged Liz Truss to “look at the facts”.

 

So, the scumbag 'nasty sleaze party' have to strong-arm its own members into the lobby to vote for the Government !!!


Government defeats bid to ban fracking amid chaotic Commons scenes

Richard Wheeler, Ben Hatton, David Lynch and Sam Blewett, PA Political Staff
19 October 2022, 10:41 pm

The Government has defeated Labour’s bid to ban fracking amid farcical scenes in the House of Commons.

Conservative whips initially stated the vote on whether to allocate Commons time to consider legislation to stop shale gas extraction was being treated as a “confidence motion” in Liz Truss’s embattled Government.

But after a series of Tory MPs signalled they would not take part in the vote, climate minister Graham Stuart caused confusion by telling the Commons: “Quite clearly this is not a confidence vote.”

When Conservative MP Ruth Edwards (Rushcliffe) asked the minister to clarify if those Tories who abstain or vote against the motion will lose the party whip, Mr Stuart added: “That is a matter for party managers, and I am not a party manager.”

Labour’s motion was defeated by 230 votes to 326, majority 96, but the Commons heard there were “very strong rumours” the Government chief whip Wendy Morton had resigned.

The division list showed more than 30 Conservative MPs had no vote recorded although this does not automatically equate to an abstention – but in many cases will be.

Conservative trade minister Sir James Duddridge said it appeared that his “card did not scan as I walked through the lobby” and he backed the Government.

Those known to be abstaining included Chris Skidmore, the Prime Minister’s net-zero tsar.

The Conservative MP for Kingswood tweeted: “As the former energy minister who signed Net Zero into law, for the sake of our environment and climate, I cannot personally vote tonight to support fracking and undermine the pledges I made at the 2019 general election.

“I am prepared to face the consequences of my decision.”
Former minister Tracey Crouch and Tory colleague Angela Richardson (Guildford) both retweeted Mr Skidmore’s comments with the word “ditto”.

Allegations of bullying were also levelled against Government whips, with Labour former minister Chris Bryant saying some MPs had been “physically manhandled into another lobby and being bullied”.

Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg sought to limit the rebellion by insisting communities will have a “veto” on fracking in their area.

He said national government would be unable to overrule the objections from communities, with one option under consideration involving local referendums for areas where fracking is proposed.

Mr Rees-Mogg, in a message directed at Conservative MPs, told the Commons: “There’s an absolute local consent lock.

“Any process to determine local consent must be run independently and this House will vote on any scheme that we bring forward.”

During the debate, Ms Edwards said the Government frontbench should “hang their heads in shame” as she said the leadership had “severely tested” Tory MPs’ trust by the way they had approached the vote.

Ms Edwards was among several opponents of fracking who criticised Labour’s attempt to take control of the parliamentary schedule in order to move its own proposed legislation.

Tory former minister Paul Maynard (Blackpool North and Cleveleys) praised Ms Edwards for her speech, adding: “I endorse every word she has said about how the Government has handled this matter and I share her sense of despair, frustration and infuriation by it.

“But as I find myself saying so frequently at the moment: we are where we are and we have to get on with it.”

Mr Maynard said he would much rather the Government stood by the moratorium on fracking contained in the Conservative Party manifesto although he welcomed commitments from Mr Rees-Mogg to allow a vote on the process for local consent.

 

They ought to talk to people in Oklahoma who lived through the massive number of earthquakes caused by fracking.

 

We already told our Government to 'FRACK OFF' once and they imposed a ban on any new fracking sites. Come a change in leadership and they put FRACKING back on the agenda, so once again we are organising to tell the government a second time to FRACK OFF !!!

 

If we are desperate for energy and resorting to fossil fuels ,I would rather go back to coal whereby we have lots and is safer for extraction .But as a stop gap measure only.

Of course I would rather have renewables but those will take time to get on stream

 

We already have some on stream and plans are well advanced in expanding this wind farm next year !!!

 

Interestingly enough, there is a wood pellet fuel manufacturer here - they take hardwood and process it into rabbit food-like sized pellets to be burned for fuel. Now, you'd think, cool, they probably sell lots in the winter for pellet fueled stoves and fireplaces. Nope. Day after day they ship train cars full of pellets to the nearest port, loaded on a boat to be shipped to your side of the ocean where they are burned in power plants to offset their carbon numbers...how can that possibly be the right thing to do.....?

 

In case anybody wonders... That's where all the trees in the Indonesian Rain Forest went... "Carbon Reduction" in Europe.

 

The thing is, they buy timber for it....you would think they'd be picking up all kinds of storm debris and such, but nope, that all goes into compost or land fill. We are a state full of tall long leaf pine....but you can't use pine in the wood pellets.... Now, just maybe, why don't we plant a few trees for carbon offset?

 

You shouldn't be using Trees for lumber at all, since trees contain lots of Carbon Dioxide, burn the trees and that CO2 is released into the atmosphere !!!