The new MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk used his maiden speech to oppose fracking.

Also this week: more fracking parliamentary questions from Preston’s Mark Hendrick.

With thanks to TheyWorkForYou.com for the transcripts.

14^th July 2015

Maiden speech by Martyn Day, SNP, Linlithgow and East Falkirk
Linlithgow and East Falkirk lies between a rock and a hard place, being situated midway between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and enjoys good transport links across the central belt of Scotland. Ironically, the weakest link in local transport connections lies at the very heart of the constituency at the Torphichen bridge over the Avon gorge. The inadequacy of the bridge was described by one of my predecessors, Manny Shinwell, when he was MP for Linlithgowshire in 1922 as being “unfit for the horse and cart”.

It is scantly better today. The area was of course the heart of the shale industry and is now subject to much speculation regarding fracking. Let me make my position clear: I just dinnae like it. I will work with local groups in the constituency to oppose fracking applications across the local area.

8^th July 2015

Question by Mark Hendrick Labour/Co-operative, Preston
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what (a) seismological, (b) geological and (c) other assessments have been made of the effect of fracking on the safety of nuclear facilities at Salwick and Heysham.

Reply by Andrea Leadsom The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change
No specific studies have been carried out on the effect of fracking on the safety of nuclear facilities at Salwick and Heysham but a study was conducted in 2011/12 and consulted upon, which lead to the introduction of a “traffic light” regime for hydraulic fracturing activities, which will ensure that operations are quickly halted and reviewed if unusual levels of seismic activity are observed: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/48330/5055-preese-hall-shale-gas-fracturing-review-and-recomm.pdf

The level of seismicity at which operations are halted has been set at a precautionary extremely low level in order that events that could be felt at the surface are avoided.

Click here for more fracking questions by Mark Hendrick