Anti-fracking campaigners have reacted furiously to the announcement by Prime Minister Theresa May that money from a Shale Wealth Fund could be transferred directly to households affected by fracking, rather than to local councils.
"The government I lead will be driven by the interests of the many – ordinary families for whom life is harder than many people in politics realise" she said "As I said on my first night as prime minister: when we take the big calls, we'll think not of the powerful but of you.
"This announcement is an example of putting those principles into action" she added "It's about making sure people personally benefit from economic decisions that are taken – not just councils – and putting them back in control over their lives. We'll be looking at applying this approach to other government programmes in the future too, as we press on with the work of building a country that works for everyone."
Frack Free Lancashire, which is currently fighting Cuadrilla's plans for fracking, immediately put out a press release condemning the bribe, stating that it was "appalled at the recent announcement". It added: "Fracking is a fossil fuel extraction where support for this risky technique is very low and opposition growing by the day. To keep our commitments to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, we need to seriously focus on renewable energy and move away from dirty fossil fuels".
Meanwhile, Tina Rothery, from Nanashire, who was at the Barton Moss protests in Salford stated: "The UK government is trying anything it can to enforce fracking on communities across UK - this will not work any better than all of their previous failed PR initiatives. We are not driven by greed - we are driven to defend our young."
And Pam Foster, from Residents Action Against Fracking, explained;"If Theresa May wants to give power back to the people why not uphold the democratic decision of their elected representatives, Lancashire County Council, who said no to fracking? Power is being transferred from the people of Lancashire to central government and the shale gas industry."
Meanwhile, a member of Frack Free Greater Manchester posted the following comment on Facebook...
"Firstly the Government won't pay a clean-up bond but they will pay this: tells you everything you need to know about the safety.
"Secondly, this is a desperate move from the Government now attempting to bribe citizens into accepting houses they cannot insure or sell, air pollution so bad it causes severe respiratory problems, nose bleeds, headaches, unexplained rashes, elevated chances of cancer, and the very real likelihood that their land and water will be contaminated irrevocably by carcinogenic, neurotoxic, endocrine disrupting chemicals and radioactive substances. So how much is your family's health worth? Being a human being I'm fairly certain this is not something you'd ever dream of monetising.
"Thirdly, people close to the sites in America got payouts and it didn't make a damn bit of difference when the industry filled their houses with gas and their kids got ill.
"Fourthly: what caveats will this payout contain? A gagging order when you become ill? Is it payable before the operators' profits or not (ie.never)? Where does the money come from? Because if this is tax funded when we (allegedly) can't afford schools and hospitals then that means I am paying my neighbour for the industry to poison them!
"Forget it Theresa: £10k doesn't cover it. The only thing that will is an out and out ban on this dangerous and unnecessary practice. Spend the bribe money on renewables instead..."
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