Responding to Liz Truss' failure to answer questions on ensuring local consent for fracking in an interview with BBC Radio Lancashire, Liberal Democrat Energy and Climate Change Spokesperson, Wera Hobhouse MP said:

"Truss' excruciating inability to answer even the most basic questions shows her talk of local consent is a sham. From Surrey and Sussex to Somerset and Shropshire, people are anxious that they will soon be part of a hair-brained experiment, with no say at all.

"Her own scientists refuse to say it's safe, her own chancellor says it won't bring down prices and we all know it will only worsen the climate emergency. Why is the Prime Minister determined to impose such destruction on the British public?

"Once again Truss has revealed her contempt for rural communities. Their concerns: over water pollution, climate change, and the destruction of their local countryside are viewed as irrelevant by the Prime Minister."

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

A clip of Truss’ answer on fracking for BBC Radio Lancashire can be found here