Tory candidate for Selby accused of backing 'dangerous' fracking

Over a fifth of the Selby local authority is covered by oil and gas licences, with previous research suggesting that the Yorkshire Dales is one of four National Parks in the country which would be of interest for fracking for shale gas.

The comments made on social media in 2022 also questioned whether the Government was able to freeze energy prices ahead of the winter fuel crisis last year.

“As for price freezing and subsidies - so you support public money being given to large energy companies? If so, what spending shd [should] be cut to divert money?,” he said during a disagreement over how households will pay their bills.

Last night Labour accused Mr Naughton of wanting to impose “unsafe” and “dangerous” fracking, arguing that it would not help cut energy bills.

The Conservative Party was contacted for comment.

Last year’s vote to lift the moratorium on shale gas fracking was won by Liz Truss’ government, but saw claims that Tory MPs were "physically manhandled" and “bullied '' into the voting lobbies in Parliament.

Rishi Sunak, later confirmed that the Government would no longer continue the policy of his predecessor after he became Prime Minister.

Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow climate change secretary said: "Every family in Britain is paying more on their energy bills because of thirteen years of failed Conservative energy policy.

“From banning onshore wind, to failing to upgrade homes, the Tories have left Britain vulnerable to fossil fuel dictators like Putin.

“And now we have it confirmed that the candidate for Selby and Ainsty wants to impose unsafe, dangerous fracking on local people - despite the fact it will not cut energy bills by a penny.”

It comes as Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Yorkshire Party continue their selection processes, which are all due to conclude by the end of the week.

The Yorkshire Post understands that Mike Jordan, a local councillor who last week quit the Conservative party group on North Yorkshire Council, has submitted his application to stand as the Yorkshire Party’s candidate for the seat.

Cllr Jordan ran against Mr Adams in 2019 as the Yorkshire Party candidate when he received 1,900 votes, finishing fourth behind the Liberal Democrats.

The main challenger for the seat, Labour, are yet to select their candidate, with around six or seven candidates expected to be vying for the nomination.

Yorkshire campaigner Paul Afshar, who is seeking to become Labour’s candidate, told The Yorkshire Post that he would lobby his party to make Selby the home of Great British Energy, Labour’s publicly-owned energy company, to make the most of the area’s heritage in power generation.

This week has seen political parties campaigning in the seat, including Greg Hands, the Conservative Party chairman, who joined activists yesterday.

He said that despite the political nature of Mr Adams’ resignation, Boris Johnson had not come up on the doorstep.

“It’s a bit too early to tell,” he said, adding: “Yesterday our team was in really good spirits.”

“Mid-term by-elections are always very very difficult for the government of the day,” he said, pointing to the “very difficult year” that much of the public have had during the winter fuel and cost of living crisis.

“We are taking nothing for granted and we’ll be campaigning really hard to hold Selby and Ainsty.”