Mid Sussex MP Mims Davies has made a statement on fracking (click to view). This follows the new Truss government lifting the moratorium on fracking and permitting it where there is local support.
The government move is deeply problematic. It ignores the urgent need to drive down oil and gas extraction and move as rapidly as possible to renewables. The policy is not driven by a response to the climate crisis, rather it is a business-as-usual position. Fracking is ok if local people are willing to put up with it. There also seems to be little about how local people might express their opposition or support for fracking in their area.
Mims Davies has said that she opposes fracking in Mid Sussex. This is to be welcomed. However, this should not be seen as a principled statement of support for a move away from oil and gas. It is a local MP positioning themself within a controversial local issue.
In the same week, the founder of Quadrilla expressed the view that fracking will never be viable in the UK (click to view). The geology does not support it and one would imagine that constant changes in government policy are also a major deterrent to investment.
Summary: Fracking is probably dead in the UK. But that doesn’t mean that every political mention of it should not be met with opposition.