Labour pledges to ban fracking ‘once and for all’ with opposition day motion
Labour has pledged to ban fracking “once and for all”, calling it “an unjust charter for earthquakes”.
The party is working to bring forward an opposition day motion to maintain the ban on the controversial gas extraction method, after Liz Truss said she would lift it as part of her energy security plan.
The moratorium on fracking was imposed by the Conservatives in 2019 after a series of tremors, and their manifesto that year said they would not support it “unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely”.
Fracking involves injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks and boreholes to force open existing cracks and extract oil or gas.
A government-commissioned report by the British Geological Survey at the time said more data was needed, but despite the lack of scientific progress, Ms Truss’s administration has torn up the manifesto commitment.
Ed Miliband, the shadow climate secretary, will visit Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire, on Friday to meet the party’s candidate Jo White and residents to listen to concerns about the possibility of fracking in their area.
“Labour will stand with communities in opposing the Conservatives’ dodgy plans to impose expensive, dirty, and dangerous fracking on the British people,” he said.
“Fracking would make no difference to energy prices, and could risk the health of local communities, nature, and water supplies.”
The government has insisted that future fracking applications will be considered where there is local support, although it is not clear how that will be measured.
Previous fracking attempts have faced significant public opposition.
Ms Truss said she was “setting a new ambition for our country” when she announced the fracking ban would be lifted as part of a plan to make the UK a net energy exporter by 2040.
However, Labour says that shale gas extracted by fracking would make no difference to gas prices, and is a more expensive alternative to renewables, which the party says is nine times cheaper than gas.
Hitting out at what he called Ms Truss’s “unjust charter for earthquakes”, Mr Miliband said Labour would stand up to her plan to “outsource decisions about local consent to fracking companies”.
The party intends to work with MPs who oppose fracking to force the government to maintain the ban, one of several issues to divide the Conservatives since Ms Truss became leader.
The government’s environmental commitments have come under scrutiny in recent weeks, and the prime minister has been criticised for giving the green light to the expansion of oil and gas operations in the North Sea and after reports suggested she is opposed to the installation of solar panels on productive agricultural lands.
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Mr Miliband will also visit a solar farm on Friday, and is expected to set out his party’s opposition to any plan that would block new solar projects.
“If Liz Truss blocks solar power she will be declaring unilateral energy disarmament – undermining our energy security and forcing the British people to accept decades of higher energy bills,” Mr Miliband said.
“Only Labour can deliver lower energy bills and energy security for the UK, with our plans for clean power by 2030 – including trebling solar power – and GB Energy, a publicly-owned, clean energy company, to make Britain an energy independent superpower.”
A Romanian grooming gang has been convicted of sexually exploiting 10 vulnerable women in Dundee.
Four men and one woman were found guilty of dozens of offences – including rape – following an extensive investigation into sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and the supply of drugs in the Tayside area.
Marian Cumpanasoiu, 37, Remus Stan, 34, Catalin Dobre, 44, Cristian Urlateanu, 41, and Alexandra Bugonea, 34, denied any wrongdoing but on Thursday were convicted following a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.
Detective Inspector Scott Carswell branded the offenders “deplorable” in an interview with Sky News’ Scotland correspondent, Connor Gillies.
The detective said the gang plied the women with alcohol and free Class A drugs at parties before coercing them into sexual activity, “which a lot of them didn’t want to do”.
He said: “But as things progressed, they were so addicted to the drugs that they knew the only way they could get the drugs was to perform the sexual acts that they were having to get involved in.”
Detective Inspector Scott Carswell
DI Carswell said the gang got the women addicted to drugs in a bid to control them and keep them coming back for more.
He added: “They’ve had no thought as to the impact this is having on the victims. It’s been quite controlled in that they knew what they were doing.”
The gang will be sentenced at a later date.
Police Scotland said the offenders were arrested and charged as part of Operation Recloir, which was launched in late 2021 to target a gang of suspected human traffickers in the Tayside area.
DI Carswell said the inquiry initially focused on brothel-keeping in Dundee and the suspected trafficking of Romanian females into the country.
He added: “However, into the summer of 2022 we started to receive information that the crime group were targeting vulnerable Dundee females, and it looked like they were grooming them and coercing them with gifts of free drugs and other things until it moved on to the victims having to get involved in sexual activity to get the free drugs.
“And unfortunately, this got them addicted to the class A drugs that had been provided.”
DI Carswell said many of the victims identified believed they were the girlfriends of the men involved and did not realise they were being “groomed and used”.
The detective said the women were looking to be “cared for”, noting: “However, I believe that the end goal here was to groom the females and possibly move them into prostitution.”
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DI Carswell said it was important to build up the victims’ “trust and confidence” in order to get them to engage with the force.
He said: “That did take a lot of patience, and it was something that I was passionate about with my inquiry team from the start.”
DI Carswell added work remains ongoing to ensure the women’s welfare and long-term safeguarding.
The detective believes his team identified all the victims, but not everyone wished to engage with the inquiry.
DI Carswell added: “What I would say to them is even at this time if they don’t want to engage with the police, the support’s always there if they need help with anything on the back of this.”
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