In overturning the democratic decision of Lancashire County Council, just hours after the Prime Minister acknowledged that for most people, “the world works for a privileged few, but not for them”, this government has revealed its cynicism and the nature of its true priorities.
This high-handed, short-sighted and downright dangerous decision defies the wishes of local people, our responsibilities under the Paris agreement and the advice and recommendations of its own Committee on Climate Change.
It sends an ominous warning to the rest of the United Kingdom.
You think you can make your own decisions about changes that will turn your lives upside down, destroy your landscape and threaten your health? Think again. You think you can create sustainable, clean, permanent energy solutions for yourselves and generations to come? Think again. You think we are really on the side of ordinary families against the big unaccountable, polluting fossil fuel industry? Think again.
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And to those of us here in Northern Ireland, over whom the threat of fracking still hangs, the warning is especially clear, however loud the pop of the conference champagne corks.
Tanya Jones, Fermanagh & South Tyrone Green Party