Well AJL can try to sue the government but then it was Cuadrilla...

Well AJL can try to sue the government but then it was Cuadrilla who failed to frack safely after publicly guaranteeing no earthquakes, so I doubt any of you will get much in the way of compo.

As regards today's vote, the Government has now bottled it and proposed an amendment that will probably pass. In it they say that consultation must be with "Regional mayors, local authorities and parishes" as well as "those most directly affected". They are no longer proposing allowing fracking companies to visit houses armed with baloney and checkbooks.

This has two consequences.

1. It allows Tory MPS the wiggle room to vote with the whip so I now doubt that Labour will win the vote. Any Tory abstentions or votes against the whip will still be hugely damaging to the government though.

2. It ensures fracking will never happen as such consultation will never result in local consent being given. (They know this). I am told they will be kicking fracking into the long grass again by proposing a consultation on what "consultation" means (yes really ;-) )

Game set and match to Labour then. They set a trap and the Tories fell into it.