Tory pledge on Fracking!!

      So the government is assuring us, just nine months or so before the next election, that applications will be refused for fracking "in national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and world heritage sites" unless "in exceptional circumstances and in the public interest".

      As if the need for a conditional clause isn`t worrying enough, there is another  problem! Similar promises were made by these people in the build-up to the 2010 election; "no frontline cuts","no top-down reorganisation of the NHS", and "no VAT rise" spring to mind, whilst there was no mention of tax cuts for the very wealthy, or the privatisation of parts of the health service or of Royal Mail. 

    Neither were we told how state schools would be forced to accept academisation or face financial difficulties, that the Education Maintenance Allowance would be scrapped or that university fees would be trebled. We were, however, informed that tax avoidance was "morally repugnant", but not that Tory funds would be boosted by donations from the CEOs of companies like Vitol, which paid 2.6% tax on profits of $846m last year. Doesn`t that basically mean that instead of such companies paying a decent sized tax bill, they donate to the Tory party instead? 

      A government intent on reducing state interference to 1948 levels, and which cannot be trusted to keep its word, is not going to run a "well regulated shale industry", no matter what its friends in the Institute of Directors might say!