Two prominent national campaign groups, Frack Free United and Cross Party Frack Free, have come together in a bid to put fracking on the election agenda, encouraging tactical voting and highlighting individual candidate and party policies on fracking. With 60% of the UK offered for exploration in the last licence auction, leading to large parts of country threatened by fracking, it is set to become an election issue across large parts of the country.
Both groups have reported a strong positive reaction to their anti-fracking message since the announcement of the general election and have united to pool resources to get their message out.
Frack-Free United has seen a huge rise in sign-ups with supporters from across the country joining the growing network of individuals and groups, and has a high-volume leafleting program at their disposal ready to spread the word about fracking.
Cross Party Frack Free will hold the register of politicians that have agreed to a UK-wide ban on fracking. Until now the register has only been open to elected officials including MPs and Peers but now, for the first time, candidates can also register to support a ban on fracking in the UK.
The online campaign launch has built a social reach of nearly one million people and orders for leaflets has topped 100,000 already, prior to the official launch on Tuesday night.
A spokesperson from Frack Free United said:
“This general election is a whole new ball game. This is now about national policy and we are focused on the bigger picture. Fracking has to be stopped by changing Government policy and we are urging people to find out more about the damage that fracking will do to their communities and before they cast their vote on June 8th – this is a brilliant opportunity to drive home our anti-fracking message and promote the alternative technologies needed to help meet the UKs legal obligations to stop climate change.
“We want voters to make an ‘informed choice’ on who is the best person to vote for in their constituency to stop fracking. We have to get the issue on the agenda now and we will try our best to make June 8th the turning point in the fight against fracking.
“Our interactive map has been updated to include parliamentary constituencies and fracking licences and will also provide the candidate names and contact details in each area, encouraging voters to ask them ‘what is your position on fracking?’ The Cross Party Frack Free Register will be accessible from both the Frack Free United and Cross Party Frack Free websites and across the networks on social media.
“We haven’t even launched our general election campaign yet and we have been already been inundated with supporters signing up from across the UK. We are providing guidance and info to spread our message, which includes supplying the ‘Your home is in a fracking area’ leaflet, giving them opportunity to raise awareness and inform candidates of fracking in their area.”
