Energy Minister, Andrea Leadsom
The Energy Minister, Andrea Leadsom, has admitted to asking her officials “Is climate change real?” And she dismissed the idea that women and men have different attitudes to fracking.
Speaking at a meeting in Westminster this afternoon, she said it was “completely extraordinary” to suggest women were less keen on fracking than men. The government needed to make the case for fracking to everyone, Mrs Leadsom said. If it couldn’t make the case then it didn’t deserve to get fracking through.
Averil Macdonald, chair of UKOOG
Her comments were in contrast to those made last week by the new chair of the industry group, UK Onshore Oil and Gas, Averil Macdonald. She told The Times that men were more likely to support fracking because they were persuaded by facts. Women, who were more concerned about threats to their family than men, relied on gut reaction and feel.
The latest poll by Nottingham University suggests support for fracking among women stands at 31.5%, compared with 58% for men.
Mrs Leadsom was speaking to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Unconventional Gas and Oil. DrillOrDrop asked the minister why she thought women were less keen on fracking than men. This is her reply:
“I am absolutely sure that women are not less keen on anything than men. I find the whole thing completely extraordinary actually.”
“There isn’t a boys’ technology and a girls’ technology. It doesn’t work like that at all. There are people and people need to be persuaded that something is safe. People as individuals have preferences.”
“When I first came to this job one of my two questions was: ‘Is climate change real?’ and the other was ‘Is hydraulic fracturing safe?’ And on both of those questions I now am completely persuaded.”
“But actually you have got to want to go and find out about it. And why should you? It is your home, your family, your community. Why should you go and find out about it? Why don’t you just take whatever line that someone gives you? And that’s not men or women, that’s people. And that’s the truth of it.”
“We have to reach out. We have got to make the case. We have got to persuade them that it is safe. We have got to take the steps necessary to ensure it is safe. And we have to give people confidence in it. And then if we can’t do that then we don’t deserve to get it through.”
Categories: Politics
DRILL OR DROP? 
“We’ve got to persuade, inform”…says the Minister who is stumped by a Balcombe resident questioning the proper definition of it.
“When I first came to this job one of my two questions was: ‘Is climate change real?’ – and what job could that have been – ah yes – Energy Minister. Oh dear dear me.
And who did she ask about fracking? Was it people with vested interests in the development of fracking? It seems to be the form for this and the last government to listen only to the science that supports the interests of big multinational businesses.
Astonishing arrogance of this dunderhead. Her beliefs are malleable & strong enough to overcome objective truth. Confirming research within her own department, a team from Nottingham University finds that less than one-third of UK women currently support fracking; over half of men do. Yet she is “absolutely sure that women are not less keen on anything than men”. * Head smack gesture*
“on both of these questions I am now completely persuaded” – but this doesn’t say WHICH WAY!
Personally I’m still not sure whether either is right or wrong. I’d like to see fracking seriously tried. I think the present climate change might be due mainly to sun spot variations.
Of course I’m only slightly qualified, I have read New Scientist weekly for over 50 years. I have a degree and a Master’s in a scientific subject, these have fed me and my family for around 50 years until my retirement but now my sons both have their 2.1 degrees in scientific subjects and are working in new London companies. The older has an M.Sc. in civil engineering at Loughborough and has also just presented me with a grandson. If you want scientists, breed your own!