Sam Gyimah Says Government Fracking U-Turn Is "Incredibly Suspicious"

2 November 2019, 12:41

The former Tory minister, now a Liberal Democrat, accused the Government of announcing the fracking suspension to win over a few marginal seats.

Matt Frei said to Sam Gyimah: "Now you used to be part of a government that always said that fracking would not just create a solution for Britain's energy needs, it would also create 10,000s of jobs.

We've now heard overnight that the government has decided to ditch fracking, to basically say it's not going to happen in England amid fears about earthquakes. Your reaction to that?"

Gyimah replied: "Well, my personal position whenever I will speak to questions about this, I always talk about local people decide and me being driven by local positions, bearing in mind that, actually, rather than doing what we want to move completely towards renewable source of energy.

On the Boris Johnson announcement, I am not sure we can believe anything Boris Johnson promises in this election campaign."

He continued: "Call me stupid but I am guessing that this announcement have been made because there are two or three marginal seats that he thinks are in play and this could help him.

You know, the man who said he'd sign the Benn Act, you know, three letters he did - do or die - he did. Everything Boris Johnson has promised he has gone on. I would not trust anything he says in this election campaign."

Matt Frei asked: "So just to be clear, Sam Gyimah, you think that the announcement about fracking, about stopping fracking in England is because of this plays well in the number of marginal seeds that he's trying to hold on to?"

Gyimah replied: "Well, I think it is incredibly suspicious that this announcement has been made just as we go into an election, given that the Conservative position has been in favour of fracking for all these years. I would guess that it's all about electioneering."