Shadow international trade secretary, Barry Gardiner. Photo: The Labour Party
In this week’s listings
- Shadow international trade secretary, Barry Gardiner, visits Lancashire fracking sites;
- Campaigners head for Bank Holiday festivals;
- Green Party’s Amelia Womack speaks at Preston New Road;
- Plus meetings, gatherings and information events.
Full diary for August 2018 and beyond. Please let us know here if you’d like us to add your events or if any details are wrong.
Monday 27 August 2018
Sheffield Against Fracking stall at Sheffield Fayre. 8.30am-5.30pm, Norfolk Park, Sheffield. Details
Frack Free Ryedale stall at Farndale Show. Mackeridge Lane, North York Moors National Park, YO62 7LE. Link to show website
Frack Free Notts at the Robin Hood festival at the Robin Hood festival. 11am, Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre and Country Park, Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, NG21 9HN Details
Frack Free Doncaster stall at Armthorpe Gala. 12 noon-4pm, Armthorpe Community Centre, Welfare Park, Church Road, Armthorpe DN3 3AG. Details
Tuesday 28 August 2018
Frack Free Notts at the Robin Hood festival at the Robin Hood festival. 11am, Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre and Country Park, Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, NG21 9HN Details
Know your rights training. 1pm-2.45pm. Near Tinker Lane, north Nottingham. Venue to be confirmed. Details
Frack Free Tinker Lane meeting. 7.30pm, Red Hart Hotel, Bawtry Road, Blyth S81 8HG. Details
Wednesday 29 August 2018
Women’s Call march and vigil. 9.30am-10.30am, Maple Farm, Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, near Blackpool PR4 3PE. Details
Amelia Womack, deputy leader of the Green Party
Green Gathering at Preston New Road shale gas site. Speakers include Amelia Womack, deputy leader of the Green Party at about 2pm. Full event 10am-1pm, Maple Farm, Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, near Blackpool PR4 3PE. Details
Frack Free Notts at the Robin Hood festival at the Robin Hood festival. 11am, Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre and Country Park, Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, NG21 9HN Details
Thursday 30 August 2018
Re-arranged start of court case of anti-fracking campaigner Heather Stroud arrested after a protest at Kirby Misperson on 30 January 2018. Court support from 8.30am, York Magistrates Court, Clifford Street, York YO1 9RE.
Frack Free Notts at the Robin Hood festival at the Robin Hood festival. 11am, Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre and Country Park, Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, NG21 9HN Details
Chelford drop-in session with MP Esther McVey. 2pm-4pm, The Egerton Arms, Knutsford Road, Chelford sK11 9BB. Details
Frack Free Misson weekly meeting. 7.30pm, The Angel Inn, Dame Lane, Misson, Nottinghamshire DN10 6EB.
Friday 31 August 2018
Black Friday outside Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road shale gas site. 10am, Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, near Blackpool PR4 3PE. Details
Frack Free Notts at the Robin Hood festival at the Robin Hood festival. 11am, Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre and Country Park, Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, NG21 9HN Details
No Faith In Fracking event. 1pm, Preston New Road, Little Plumpton, near Blackpool PR4 3PE. Details
Shadow international trade secretary, Barry Gardiner, visits Altcar Moss where Aurora wants to frack. Hosted by the Moss Alliance. 12 noon, Sutton’s Lane, Great Altcar, in West Lancashire. Details
Shadow international trade secretary, Barry Gardiner, visits Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road shale gas site. 2pm, Preston New Road, Little Plumpton near Blackpool PR4 3PE. Details
Saturday 1 September 2018
Solidarity Saturday at Preston New Road. 10am, Maple Farm, Little Plumpton, near Blackpool PR4 3PE. Details
Frack Free Notts at the Robin Hood festival at the Robin Hood festival. 11am, Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre and Country Park, Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, NG21 9HN Details
Sunday 2 September 2018
Frack Free Ecclesfield and Chapeltown stall at Ecclesfield Gala. 12 noon, Ecclesfield Park, Sheffield Road (opposite Morrison’s), Ecclesfield S35 9UA. Details
Frack Free Notts at the Robin Hood festival at the Robin Hood festival. 11am, Sherwood Forest Visitor Centre and Country Park, Edwinstowe, Nottinghamshire, NG21 9HN Details
Categories: Diary
DRILL OR DROP? 
Barry Gardiner is probably keeping an eye on what the Labour Party set in motion.
The Labour Party issued the shale gas exploration licences to get the whole U.K industry started…
Jeremy Corbyn has been within a few miles of the Cuadrilla PNR site but never visited. Why?
SNP sitting on the fence until October, the month following first shale gas from the Cuadrilla site. I wonder why? Do you think they will lift their moratorium? If they were going to outright ban shale gas extraction they would have done it by now. Shale gas will be classified as National importance by the Government in October. This will give the SNP a get out excuse by saying Westminster have pushed this on them. Well Nicola you should have banned it if that is what you wanted instead of media gloss and getting caught out in Court.
Let’s see what Barry says about shale gas production.
Remember the last Labour Party MP that went against shale gas production on TV, Owen Smith. He was sacked from the front bench one week after his comments on Question Time earlier this year…
Barry Gardiner voted against requiring a more extensive set of conditions be met prior to consent for hydraulic fracturing being given.
Barry Gardiner voted against greater restrictions on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract shale gas in National Parks, the Broads, areas of outstanding natural beauty, World Heritage sites, and near points where water is abstracted for domestic and food production purposes.
Truth is the current Labour leadership are perfectly aligned with environmentalists which is probably quite threatening to investors?
I was lucky enough to meet Barry Gardiner at Leith Hill Protection Camp earlier this year and he was happy to confirm that when he announced that Labour would ban Fracking, he most certainly meant all unconventional extraction , including the exploratory drilling at Leith Hill.
He was exepctionally well informed and helpful.
I bumped into John McDonnell a week or two later at Jazz for Labour and again he was very relaxed and approachable, he told me all about his own visit to PNR.
Barry Gardiner was very clear as to why Labour will end unconventional oil and gas and had an important message for those financially invested; https://youtu.be/ukjF2zejSfg
John Martin McDonnell voted against requiring a more extensive set of conditions be met prior to consent for hydraulic fracturing being given.
John Martin McDonnell voted against greater restrictions on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to extract shale gas in National Parks, the Broads, areas of outstanding natural beauty, World Heritage sites, and near points where water is abstracted for domestic and food production purposes.
I appreciate the reasons why Barry and John now have greater allegiance to the U.K relying more and more on foreign imports ie Qatar, Norway, U.S.A and their Russian comrades…
As for threatening to investors? I think the whole U.K would suffer greatly if Labour gained power
The Labour Party have bigger problems
“For the Many not the few”
I take it the few being the ones JC has quite evidently identified…
The Labour leadership aligned?
They (the current ones, who are around version ten) are not aligned on anything. Just because a couple of them say one thing to you Dorkinian, doesn’t make it policy-which is good, because they have no policy on anything.
Wasn’t it the same Barry who described one of their “policies” as ****ocks?
Equally, you need to check your own policies. Not too many “investors” invested in any significant way in on shore gas or oil. Dwarfed by the owners of INEOS finances-and they have already got the message about Corbyn and his cronies and have taken steps to mitigate. Corbyn and co. would find capital flight is impossible to prevent, but of course would attempt a different narrative. But then, not to worry, I suspect he will last no longer than May. (Take your pick between the PM and the month. Don’t think there will be a great difference between the two.)
Obviously this is a big issue for Kisheny with so many denials. Looking back to 2015 the majority of MPs voted for fracking. But that was then. I have just looked it up, Labour is officially against fracking. So no point arguing it is in their official literature.
Within the next 33 days the U.K will start extracting shale gas…
If The Labour Party gained power they would claim it was their decision to issue exploration licences to start the U.K Shale Gas industry…
Here is a thread of three dozen anti-fracking items posted by an ex-Labour MP over the past 40 months. As long as this 82 year old lasts,more will appear until fracking itself is banned.
http://threescoreyearsandten.blogspot.com/search/label/Fracking
Old Barry’s problem is that he use’s Abbott Maths. His train wreck with Andrew Neil was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen on TV!
A few need to take a look at a calendar, or two.
Anyone really believe if fracking for gas is successful in UK and oil is produced from the Weald prior to the next election that Labour will not reverse it’s “policies”?
It’s what they do-constantly. Anyone with a previous student debt will have worked that out by now.
Just a note on why the Labour Party might be hedging their bets on shale gas.
The Telegraph reports that the price for wholesale winter gas bought in advance is close to 50% higher than it was this time last year and experts expect prices to rise further, with costs passed on to working households, that’s Labour voters. Now shale gas is not going to significantly increase supply short term but hopefully the Labour Party would be looking at any initiative that medium term might improve the situation and reduce fuel poverty.
Also European gas storage levels are low. The task of replenishing the stores has become more difficult because North Sea production is dwindling and global gas players would rather sell in Asia where returns are higher. The U.K. has no long term gas storage after the recent closure of the Rough storage facility. In a lengthy cold spell we rely for gas supply top-up on medium term storage which has a capacity of about 12 days and “just in time” purchases of imported LNG mostly from Qatar but also the USA and Russia. At times of shortage we import gas from mainland Europe at the market rate, that means about 40% of that gas will originate from Russia.
Anyone who thinks renewables might fill a gap might want to look at the figures for wind generated electricity during July and August during the long periods of dominant high pressure – pretty poor. We can certainly have similar blocked high pressure systems in the middle of winter which make for periods of low wind and of course low solar (short days).