Fracking candidate is a late runner
An anti-fracking campaigner has thrown his name into the ring to become Filey and Hunmanby’s next Member of Parliament.
Philip Tate, of Butterwick, near Malton, will stand as an Independent candidate in the election this May.
The businessman, who has five daughters, was moved to put his name forward to “Protect Yorkshire from Fracking.”
“The potential threat to our health and wellbeing is overwhelming if fracking goes ahead as the present Government intends,” he said. “We face supranational oil companies exploiting this area on an industrial scale.
“Someone must carry the torch for Yorkshire.
“Someone must defend our interests – and if no-one else will step forward then it is going to be me.”
Standing on the single issue of fracking is the key to his campaign, he says.
“Fracking is such a powerful threat to our way of life that it requires the intense spotlight of a single issue campaign to illuminate the darker aspects of the process and the Government’s relationship with the oil industry.
“As an Independent, I am not shackled by party politics.
“The Conservatives a re pursuing an all-out campaign to frack Yorkshire and frack intensively. I do not have to sacrifice Yorkshire’s i nterests to party loyalty. I am free to make Yorkshire my real concern and fight our corner.”
Westminster, argues Mr Tate, a member of Frack Free Ryedale, does not appear to care for “the desolate North.”
He said: “The present Government are not listening. Yorkshire will not be sacrificed on the altar of Fracking!”