LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2018) The revelations regarding the UK government's use of the foreign aid budget to promote fracking operations overseas are likely to backfire, making voters review their support for the government, Barbara Richardson, a spokeswoman for Frack Free Lancashire (FFL) activist group, told Sputnik on Monday.
On Sunday, The Independent newspaper reported, citing a report of the Platform energy watchdog, that the UK Foreign Office had spent 2 million Pounds ($2.5 million) from the government's Prosperity Fund on overseas fossil fuel projects, including those involving the controversial method of fracking.
"They are in danger of ruining their own reputation as more and more people are waking up to the danger of climate crisis. So it could well be a serious vote loser for this government. It's a very dangerous policy and when people see that they are using aid money in countries like China that should be moving away from fossil fuels," Richardson said.
She also expressed confusion about the UK government's attempts to export the fracking practices abroad, pointing to the fact that the United Kingdom itself lacked the needed industry and could not boast of successful fracking operations.
"Why on Earth are we promoting the fossil fuel industry, particularly since we are supposed to be avoiding climate change and doing everything we can to stop it? This government needs to wake up and create an energy policy that most of the electorate will support. The [Conservative] party is heading in the wrong direction and going backwards and not forwards," Richardson stressed.
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique for extracting shale gas and oil by injecting pressurized toxic liquid into the ground. Opponents of hydraulic fracturing argue the process poses numerous health, safety and environmental risks, including the potential for fracking fluids and waste to leak into water as well as the large volume of water used.
