Charlie Elphicke
Charlie Elphicke has been the Conservative Party MP for Dover since 2010.[1] He was re-elected in 2015 with a majority of 6,294. [2]
He was appointed as Lord Commissioner to HM Treasury, part of the Government Whip on 13 May 2015.[3]
Contents
Not in my constituency
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This article is part of the Spinwatch Fracking Portal and project |
In September 2013, Elphicke wrote a piece for Conservative Home supporting fracking, in which he writes:
- 'Shale gas presents [an] opportunity. And it does more. It offers the UK the chance to invest in immature low carbon technologies which are home grown and which can then add real value to the UK if they can be properly developed and sold abroad. It offers local communities the opportunity to directly benefit from the natural resource buried thousands of feet beneath our feet. And it offers the government an asset against which it can borrow (if necessary) but which will in any case offer foreign investors confidence in the stability of UK PLC' [4].
A month later however, he came out against opposed the applications for exploratory drilling in East Kent and vowed to convince other Ministers to do the same, saying:
- 'I’ve always said we have got to balance that against safety – the risk to the water aquifer and our drinking water is too great. So I oppose these applications. In other areas that are more suitable and don’t have the same risks we should explore it but we use the aquifer for all our drinking water. If it could be contaminated this is a risk I don’t think we should take.' [5]
Voting record
Elphicke has voted a mixture of for and against increased regulation on fracking. [6]
- 26 January 2015: voted against making fracking companies apply for an environmental permit before conducting exploratory drilling. He voted against an amendment to the Infrastructure Bill to include an 18 month moratorium on fracking.
- 11 February 2015: voted in favour of requiring more pre-conditions for where fracking can take place.
- 16 December 2015: voted in favour of weakening regulations on fracking in protected areas and national parks.
Affiliations
- Katy Eustice, now a campaign lobbyist with CrosbyTextor in the UK, worked as a parliamentary adviser for Elphicke prior to 2014.
Publications
Articles
- Charlie Elphicke MP: Charity bosses have to find their vocation again, Telegraph, 12 August 2013.
- Andy Ricketts, Tory MP says charity think tank is too close to the Labour Party, Third Sector, 20 June 2014.
Notes
- ↑ Charlie Elphicke, wwww.parliament.uk, accessed 28 February 2014.
- ↑ Dover Parliamentary constituency BBC News, accessed 21 May 2015
- ↑ Charlie Elphicke ProfileGov.UK, accessed 25 September 2015
- ↑ Charlie Elphicke, Charlie Elphicke MP and Chris Pincher MP: Shale gas – good for consumers, the environment and energy security, conservativehome, 26 September 2016, accessed 1 December 2016
- ↑ Defend Lytham, Local MP in shock announcement on fracking, 'Defend Lytham October 2013, accessed 1 December 2016.
- ↑ Charlie Elphicke, TheyWorkForYou, accessed 1 December 2016.
