Telegraph: Shale: the hidden treasure that could transform Britain’s fortunes
For years, the countryside has had pitifully few friends in Westminster. The Labour Party had abandoned hope of winning votes there: its interest in rural England extended solely to imposing a fox-hunting ban. The Tory modernisers, meanwhile, took rural voters for granted, so felt able to pick fights over planning laws and ludicrously expensive railway lines. Both parties also allowed their environmental policy to be shaped by the prevailing fashion in London: so mainly concerns about carbon emissions and the welfare of newts, trees and bats. The millions who actually lived in the countryside were left out of the equation.
It was always odd that David Cameron should go along with such a process. He is, at heart, a rural Tory who loves country walks and has a labrador-like tendency to dive into icy lakes. He still grumbles to his wife about what, for him, are “banned activities” – notably shooting, which he feels does not befit a leader of a party trying to win suburban votes. But that compliance with the consensus was adopted when he thought he would win the next election. Now, he thinks he may not – which explains a quiet yet fundamental change in the political environment.
Owen Paterson is far from a household name, but the significance of his appointment as Environment Secretary has not been lost on the green lobby groups. As far as they’re concerned, this is war. They are already denouncing him as a “prominent hater of wind turbines” and overall climate change sceptic. MORE