George Osborne says he doesn’t want Britain to be left on the sidelines over fracking because protestors fear it will harm the environment.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the Chancellor told a Thomson Reuters event in London “Of course there are proper environmental regulations there to protect local communities, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for having to spend years trying to get planning permission.”

He said “I would love fracking to get going in the UK and I am doing absolutely everything I can to encourage it… It’s another example where there’s lots of opposition and lots of pressure groups and NGOs who don’t want it to happen.”