Frack in the north, says Tory peer
Conservative peer Lord Howell, the former energy secretary, has argued that “uninhabited and desolate” areas in the north east of England should be the venue for Britain’s controversial fracking efforts. “Certainly in part of the north east where there’s plenty of room for fracking, well away from anybody’s residence, where we could conduct without any kind of threat to the rural environment,” said the Surrey-based peer, who is chancellor George Osborne’s father in law. He later apologised for the comments.