Fracking firm Ineos is leading the charge in lobbying to lower environmental standards -- with CEO Jim Ratcliffe cynically seeking to exploit Brexit to exempt the corporation from green taxes.
If Ineos is successful, it’ll be free to destroy our environment through fracking tax free, while extracting even more from local communities.
We simply can’t afford to let standards slip now. With Britain’s environmental regulations undergoing a rethink post-Brexit, we need Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom to double-down on our climate obligations. Let’s make Britain a world leader in the area by ensuring the petrochemical industry pays its share of tax!
Andrea Leadsom -- let Ineos CEO Jim Ratcliffe and other energy bosses know that Britain stands on the side of climate justice!
Ineos -- which is already benefiting from massive sector-wide tax breaks from this Conservative government -- made headlines earlier this year when a Greenpeace investigation accused the multinational of threatening landowners into giving it access to conduct exploratory work.
This latest attempt is precisely the type of backdoor deal we outlined in our 4 Things At Risk From Brexit video -- where the mega-rich and their lobbyists maneuver to put profit before people and planet.
But we’re committed to a Brexit that works for everyone, and that means making sure profiteering billionaires like Jim Ratcliffe aren’t allowed to use Brexit to avoid paying their fair share!
The UK must act in line with the international colleagues in its responsibility for climate change, and provide an example to the world by creating climate policy that puts the environment first.
Over 40,000 of us signed the petition when the Conservative government granted fracking licenses in sensitive wildlife habitat sites it promised to protect -- forcing them into an embarrassing U-turn.
We’ve beaten them before. We can do it again.
Andrea Leadsom -- don't let profiteering billionaires use Brexit to undermine standards!
More information
The Independent. 3 April 2017.
The Guardian. 3 April 2017.