Osborne Father-in-Law Dubbed 'Dunce-Head' in Fracking Row

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A future Labour government must enforce an โ€œoutright banโ€ on fracking and leave almost all fossil fuels in the ground, the former environment minister Michael Meacher MP said lastย night.ย 

The Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton then launched an impassioned attack on Lord Howell, a Tory peer and father-in-law of chancellor George Osborne, for suggesting fracking should take place in โ€œdesolateโ€ wastelands in the north ofย England.ย 

โ€œHow do these dunce-heads get away with it?โ€ he asked during a packed Labour party conference fringe meeting in Manchester held by Friends of the Earth.ย 

The former minister said fracking โ€œhas got to be stoppedโ€. He went on: โ€œThe arguments which are very powerful against tracking are well known – the health hazards, gas leaks and contaminatedย water.โ€

Renewableย Britain

He claimed fracking in the United States had already past its peak and that the risks of extracting shale gas far outweighed any economicย benefits.ย 

โ€œWhat should be done? We have to leave all fossil fuels to a maximum degree in the ground,โ€ he went on. โ€œThere is no alternative. Itโ€™s not an ideological point of view – itโ€™sย necessary.โ€ย 

He argued Britain could rely instead on renewable energy. โ€œWe have as much renewables around our islandโ€ฆas the rest of Europe put together. We can more than deal with our energy requirements for theย future.โ€

Meacher authored Destination of the Species: The Riddle of Human Experience and has argued humans could become extinct in a few hundredย years.ย 

He has argued: โ€œI don’t think there is any guarantee of our survival especially if we remain as irresponsible and foolish as we are at theย moment.โ€

The environment minister under Tony Blair has more recently authored The State We Need in which he espouses โ€œnational interestย capitalismโ€.

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