UKIP Fears For Fracking Following SNP Westminster Select Committee Appointment
What is described as the UK’s ‘fracking revolution’ could be blown off course — after the SNP was awarded control of the key House of Commons Energy Select Committee. That’s the claim of UK Independence Party (UKIP) MP Douglas Carswell.
Currently, Scotland’s SNP led Government has banned fracking in the country, pending the the outcome of a public consultation. Now, UKIP fears a similar ban could be proposed for the rest of the UK. Referring to the weaver whose name was given to workers smashing machinery 200 years ago, Mr. Carswell said the appointment was like putting “Ned Ludd in charge of the industrial revolution”.
In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Mr. Carswell said, “It’s a bad thing because Parliament should be making the case for this bountiful supply of new cheap energy, but I suspect what will happen is that the committee will just issue angry luddite reports and will become an irrelevance.
He went onto say that other MPs will arrange themselves on the committee to block any attempts to derail the case for shale, adding “the case for fracking is so overwhelming they will ultimately be ignored — the committee will become an obstacle”.
