http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/00871386-3032-4bda-bfe5-7af41437696e – Alex Salmond in Westminster from 19.34
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02mjj9d Anna Soubry and Alex Salmond with Andrew Marr. Goodness she rabbits on.
Mark Andrew Menzies is a British Conservative Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Fylde in Lancashire since 2010.
He was formerly PPS to Charles Hendry MP, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change before both moved in the 2012 Cabinet Reshuffle. He resigned as Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to Mark Prisk MP, Minister of State for Housing and Local Government in March 2014.
He was educated at Keil School and graduated from the University of Glasgow, where he was President of the Conservative Association, in 1994 with an honours degree in economic and social history.
Menzies stood as a Conservative candidate for the safe Labour seat of Glasgow Govan in the 2001 general election, where he came fourth. In 2005 he stood in Selby in Yorkshire, a Labour marginal, and came in second. In 2006 he was added to David Cameron’s “A-List” and was selected for Fylde in November 2008 he was elected at the 2010 general election, when he gained 22,826 votes, 52.2% of the total.
Menzies’ professional career before becoming an MP was spent in the retail sector. He joined Marks & Spencer as a graduate trainee in 1994 and has since worked in marketing for two large UK supermarkets.
Menzies campaigned for the liberalisation of Sunday Trading legislation. He brought forward a Bill which sought to allow local authorities to vary Sunday trading restrictions in their jurisdiction contemporaneously to large national events. More specifically, he argued that the retail sector should be able to take advantage of any extra revenues generated by the Olympics in London 2012.
BAE Warton is located in his constituency and he takes a keen interest in defence. He is a member of the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme.
Menzies was a member of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee for a time in 2010 before his appointment as a PPS. He lives in St Annes.
He was re-elected to the Fylde constituency in the 2015 GE, with a majority 0f 13,185 votes. One of the safest Tory seats in England.
29 March 2014: Top Tory MP resigns as Ministerial aide following claims he paid male escort for sex and drugs
Mark Menzies, 42, quit his post as a Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) over allegations made by a Brazilian male escort. He resigned as a Ministerial aide tonight after a Sunday Mirror investigation into claims he paid a teenage rent boy for sex and drugs. Rogerio Santos claimed Mr Menzies, 42, paid for his services 18 months ago, before showing him around Parliament. The 19-year-old then claims the MP asked him to supply him with illegal methedrone. His allegations led to Mr Menzies dramatically quitting last night as a Parliamentary Private Secretary with the Department for International Development. He said: “I have decided to resign as a PPS after a series of allegations were made against me in a Sunday newspaper.” We were contacted by Santos in a series of emails last week in which he openly admitted being a rent boy. He told us: “I have been having sex with a Conservative MP for money. “Mark also asked me to buy methedrone. “I have personal messages of him talking to me about drugs.”
Santos claimed he overstayed his student visa, was in the country illegally and made other claims about Mr Menzies – although it is understood the MP was unaware of Santos’s immigration status. The unmarried MP, who was parliamentary private secretary to International Development Minister Alan Duncan until 7pm tonight, has repeatedly asked Commons questions about the Government’s work on rehabilitation for drugs offenders. But texts on Santos’ phone, which he showed to the Sunday Mirror, reveal messages asking the teenager for full details about the quality of methedrone available and how much it would cost. Methedrone was banned in the UK in 2010 and is a Class B drug dubbed “poor man’s cocaine”.
Street slang often confuses methedrone with mephedrone – another illegal amphetamine-based drug. A series of messages seen by the Sunday Mirror show the 42-year-old MP asking for the price of the drug. Santos, who lives in a squalid apartment block in Sao Paulo, told how he was taken around Parliament by Mr Menzies – although there is no suggestion that Mr Menzies broke any rules in taking him to Westminster Palace.
He emailed us on Tuesday last week making his series of allegations, saying: “We met very regularly over the last 18 months. “He took me to the Houses of Parliament. “Recently, he has been asking me to buy drugs. “I have SMS messages and photographic evidence. “When we went to his office in Westminster I was not introduced to anyone but I still have the visitor’s permit.”
A series of pictures on Santos’ phone and seen by the Sunday Mirror show the MP – elected to Parliament four years ago as one of David Cameron’s “A-List” of young candidates – next to a plate of white powder at his luxury London home. Santos showed off a Parliamentary visitor’s pass issued at 2.35pm on June 26 last year as he went to Mr Menzies’ Westminster office. He said: “Mark got me the security pass to visit Westminster and I was interviewed by police at the gates before.” He added in an email: “I have a photo of Mark and a photo he took of me inside Westminster where he is visible in the reflection.” Describing pictures he took on his mobile, Santos claimed: “There is a plate of methedrone. “He asked me if I could buy methedrone. “He have many drugs, a lot of drugs.”
Former Marks & Spencer graduate trainee Mr Menzies has repeatedly raised the issue of rehabilitation for drugs offenders since being elected as MP for Fylde in Lancashire in 2010. In February this year, he tabled a Commons question asking the Ministry of Justice to “take steps to introduce the HM Prison Kirkham Drug and Rehabilitation programme nationally”. Mr Menzies’ website features a June 2011 article telling readers about his support for drug rehabilitation programmes after a visit to the Pierpoint Addiction Treatment Centre in St Annes, Lancashire.
He is quoted as saying: “It was truly fascinating to visit with Pierpoint. “I feel supporting full recovery-led programmes can be of tremendous benefit to society.” Mr Menzies has also spoken passionately about issues of conscience in Commons debates. He backed gay marriage – which came into force yesterday – telling MPs in February 2013: “I am a Catholic and religious freedoms are very important to me, as is my religion, but so too are equality and tolerance.”
Scotsman Mr Menzies rose from humble beginnings in the small town of Ardrossan on the North Ayrshire coast. He was raised by his mother after his merchant navy father died a month before his birth. He became an active member of the Tory Party in 1982, and began a career in retail after leaving Glasgow University in 1994 with an honours degree in economic and social history. He joined Marks & Spencer later that year and went on to become an Asda executive.
He has served as PPS to former Energy Minister Charles Hendry and ex-Housing Minister Mark Prisk before taking up his current role as aide to Tory MP Alan Duncan. He spent yesterday at his £144,000 constituency apartment in St Annes, near the beach.
The Sunday Mirror yesterday presented Mr Menzies with a series of claims and questions. At 7pm, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman issued a statement from the MP confirming that he was standing down from his unpaid role as PPS. Mr Menzies said: “A number of these allegations are not true and I look forward to setting the record straight in due course.” It is believed he will continue to represent his constituency, which he holds with a majority of 13,000. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-mp-mark-menzies-resigns-3300512
2 April 2014: Top Tory MP Mark Menzies’s fate hangs in balance after claims he paid male escort for sex and drugs
The fate of a Tory MP will be decided on Friday amid claims he hired a Brazilian rent boy and asked him to buy drugs. Party members will meet to discuss if Mark Menzies, 42, should stand in the next election after the MP quit as a Parliamentary Private Secretary.
Martin Chatfield, head of the local Conservative association, tonight hinted that the MP for Fylde, Lancs, was safe. He said: “While what has been alleged in the papers is not good, Mark has been very contrite. “I don’t think his current position as an MP is in jeopardy.” Meanwhile, Mr Menzies yesterday admitted it had been a “extremely difficult period” but vowed to keep working. Writing for his local paper, he thanked well – wishers for their support and added: “I now need a period of stability to rebuild my private life and continue to focus on helping constituents.”
Our sister paper the Sunday Mirror alleged Mr Menzies paid escort Rogerio Santos, 19, for sex and asked for illegal methedrone. In response, the MP insisted several of the claims were “not true”. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/top-tory-mp-mark-menziess-3342216
5 April 2014: Tory MP’s rent boy lover was in Britain illegally after being refused entry Three Times
The Brazilian rent boy lover of shamed Tory MP Mark Menzies was refused entry into the UK three times. But Rogerio Santos, 19, slipped back into the country to be paid for sex by Menzies, 42, and supply him with illegal drugs. Tonight there were calls for him to explain or quit as an MP. Disgraced Menzies is now under pressure to tell exactly what he knew about the immigration status of Santos. The Tory MP, who has not been seen since we broke the story last week, has claimed he was unaware his lover was ever in the UK unlawfully.
But Santos has insisted that the MP knew about his visa problems. The rent boy was turned away by UK border officials three times during his involvement with the Tory. But on other occasions he got in past border checks to continue having paid sex with him. Speaking at his lawyer’s office, Santos, 19, claimed: “I have personal messages from Mark with him talking to me about my visa. I know how many problems I had in London and he helped me with things. Brazilians have these problems. I had this three times.”
The claim comes a week after Mr Menzies, 42, quit as a ministerial aide in the wake of our story about his 18-month drug-fuelled sex romps with the teenager which ended just weeks ago. Santos claimed the former Private Parliamentary Secretary got him to buy illegal Class B amphetamine-based mephedrone for him as well as Class C GHB – known as liquid ecstasy. Last night a House of Commons source said: “It would be astonishing if Mark Menzies did not know the immigration status of a man he had been in a relationship with for months. “MPs deal with these cases on a daily basis. At very best he’s been utterly naive.”
methedrone
Migration Watch UK vice-chairman Alp Mehmet said : “If you’re one of those who makes the laws for the rest of us then you ought to be intelligent enough to know when something is happening that is wrong. “In this case, it would be difficult for anyone in that position to argue they didn’t really know what was going on.”
Brazil is fifth in the UK’s top 10 of illegal immigrant nationalities because restrictions are lax. Brazilians are allowed to enter Britain without a visa for up to six months as long they prove they have somewhere to stay and enough money to get by. They also have to prove they have a job back in Brazil.
But the Sunday Mirror understands immigration officers have had their eye on Santos and believed he was likely to overstay and become an illegal immigrant. So they put a block on his entry.
The visa revelation will put further pressure on Mr Menzies’ future as MP for Fylde in Lancashire. It was already hanging in the balance following a meeting held by his Tory constituency bosses on Thursday night. A source at the Fylde Conservative Association, tasked with deciding his fate, said: “If he has engaged in criminality then we would expect him to step down as an MP.” Constituency members have already called for him to quit after failing to respond to the allegations.
In February, Immigration Minister Mark Harper quit after employing a Colombian cleaner in the country illegally. Last week we revealed the rent boy was shown around Parliament by Mr Menzies last June. Santos told the Sunday Mirror: “He took me to the Houses of Parliament, for “fun” when I was in the country illegally. I have SMS messages and photographic evidence to prove my story.”
We have seen evidence of the MP ordering amounts of methedrone – which was banned in the UK in 2010. Santos claims he met Mr Menzies on a gay escort website and the MP began paying him £250 an hour for sex. Mr Menzies sent texts to Santos asking how much the Class B would cost if he bought it in bulk. The Brazilian says the pair enjoyed drug-fuelled romps at the MP’s taxpayer-funded flat in London where Mr Menzies was photographed naked alongside plates of methedrone. Mr Menzies asked Santos – who has now returned to Sao Paulo – to wear “sexy underwear” during their involvement. The Tory stepped down as PPS to International Development Minister Alan Duncan before our story broke.
Mr Menzies is believed to be staying with friends. He said: “I now need a period of stability to rebuild my private life and continue to focus on helping constituents with the many serious issues they face.” A source close to Mr Menzies said: “He is putting his private life in order, but he feels the way to do that is not through the Press. Mark is determined to carry on as an MP and he has a lot of support.” A spokesman for Mr Menzies told the Sunday Mirror: “As we said last week, many of these allegations are completely false.” Police sources said they would not investigate the drug allegations unless there is a formal complaint. Mr Menzies has been absent from Parliament this week where he was due to take part in a debate.
The MP, who is paid £66,400 a year, has claimed for hotel rooms and first-class train tickets on his Parliamentary expenses – and ran up a £827.48 mobile bill in the first three quarters of the 2013/14 financial year. There was nothing to suggest this was improper.
The Roman Catholic politician, who is single, entered the Commons at the last General Election. He was brought up by his mother on the west coast of Scotland. His father, who was in the Merchant Navy, died before he was born. Mr Menzies won an assisted place at an independent school before studying at Glasgow University, and he joined Marks & Spencer as a trainee in 1994.
Mr Menzies told the Commons last year that he had intended to abstain on the historic vote to legalise same-sex marriages but then voted in favour. “I came here to abstain, but I have listened to the debate like I have listened to no other. It is now my intention not to abstain, but to support the Bill,” he said.
He has repeatedly raised the issue of rehabilitation for drugs offenders since being elected. In February this year, he tabled a Commons question asking the Ministry of Justice to “take steps to introduce the HM Prison Kirkham Drug and Rehabilitation programme nationally”. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-mps-rent-boy-lover-3380331
20 February 2015: Tory MP Mark Menzies’ rent boy Rogerio Santos says he has another customer from the Conservative Party
The rent boy who told of drug-fuelled nights with disgraced Tory MP Mark Menzies claims he is ready to name a second Conservative client. Brazilian escort Rogerio Santos has contacted a British publicist this week saying he wanted to reveal fresh details in exchange for a large payment. The new claims are believed also to involve a sexual encounter that involved the consumption of illegal drugs. Any new revelations would leave the Tories facing a fresh sleaze scandal on the eve of the General Election on May 7.
A source said: “Mr Santos is very convincing. He wants to speak out again – but only for the right price.” Mr Santos, 20, claimed the second Tory was “a colleague” of Mr Menzies , 43, who is MP for Fylde in Lancashire.
Mr Menzies, one of David Cameron’s “A-list” candidates at the 2010 election, quit as parliamentary private secretary at the Department for International Development after our sister paper the Sunday Mirror revealed Santos’s claims last year. They included allegations he had paid for sex with the £250-an-hour rent boy, who was then aged 19, and asked him to supply class B party drug methedrone.
Texts on Santos’ phone, which he showed to the Sunday Mirror, revealed messages asking the teenager for full details about the quality of methedrone available and how much it would cost. Santos also said he was in the UK illegally after overstaying a student visa, though it is understood the MP did not know of his immigration status. At the time Santos hinted he had details of a sexual encounter with a second Tory. The source said the fresh claims would heap new pressure on Menzies, who intends to contest his seat at Flyde, Lancs. After resigning as a ministerial aide last year he said: “I look forward to setting the record straight in due course.”
But the source added: “Menzies has failed to answer questions on his relationship with the rent boy, which he pledged to do. “Santos is a self confessed male prostitute who can obtain drugs – it does not look good for whoever’s name is dragged into this, especially so close to a general election.” http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tory-mark-menzies-rent-boy-5201002
April 11 2015: Frack Free Fylde – Gayzer Frackman – Lytham Resident and Fylde voter speaks out
It has been a bad year for Fylde MP Mark Menzies but even worse for the people of the Fylde, having him carpetbagged in by the Tories. The arrogance of Menzies when it comes to fracking is hugely disappointing. Disgusted Campaigners against Fracking and the bully boy tactics of Lord Browne’s Cuadrilla and Cameron’s Carbon Coated government looked to him for support. But he has not represented constituents close to the sites, living in fear, or supported locals who have been bravely fighting Cuadrilla and their well financed propoganda.
There are also unanswered questions about his promise to put the record straight about allegations made about him and the Brazilian rent boy, and drugs. Featured in The Mirror over a year ago. Our MP is supposed to have our interests at heart so why hasn’t he cleared his name in all that time? Or admitted it and held his hands up and said sorry to the families of the Fylde? Others have cleared their name in less than a year and a half when facing similar accusations The people of the Fylde deserve answers! What is at question here is ‘Character’ and ‘judgment’ both lacking from a Career MP shipped into a Tory safe seat. https://www.facebook.com/events/385818231604431/
Tory Right Wing MP. Votes for everything and anything abhorrent to Scots
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/24804/mark_menzies/fylde/votes#social
Mark Menzies Refuses to Answers Most of Our Questions on Fracking
Defend Lytham met recently with Mark Menzies MP. As a result of that meeting we put together a list of specific questions to clarify Mr Menzies’ position on fracking which were put to him by email on Thursday 19th September 2013. He has not answered to the committee as requested but he did eventually send a private response on 30 October 2013 to the chairman of Defend Lytham.
In this response, which is reproduced at the end of this page he explains why he is unable to answer more than 5 of our 38 questions, because they “assume that I have a detailed technical knowledge of the engineering requirements behind the shale gas industry or are of such a speculative nature that it would be inappropriate of me to hypothesise on the answers.”
Mark Menzies has been Member of Parliament for our area, which has had PEDL licence 165 on it for the entire duration of his parliamentary career.
Until 2012 Mr Menzies was PPS to Charles Hendry MP, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change.
He is currently Vice Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Unconventional Oil and Gas (AKA Fracking for Shale Oil and Gas) which receives considerable support from the shale gas industry and its associates as revealed in Private Eye earlier this year.
We would suggest that it is eminently reasonable to expect Mr Menzies to be able to voice opinions of some pretty straightforward and important questions. We are immensely disappointed by his responses which we have collated below, insofar as they exist.
1. General
1.1. Do you know that Cuadrilla claim to be able to extract 25% of the UK’s energy requirement from their licence area (PEDL 165) at peak (1).
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question – We think he should know the answer]
1.2. Do you know that 25% of the UK’s consumption (~3 tcf pa) would equate to approximately 0.75 tcf per annum.
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question – We think he should know the answer]
1.3. Do you know that the IoD have estimated that to extract 0.85 tcf pa would require 4,000 wells on 100 x 40 lateral well pads to be drilled over a period of 17 years (2)
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question – We think he should know the answer]
1.4. Do you accept that it is therefore likely that if Cuadrilla are allowed to go ahead with production that they plan in the region of 100 well pads. (We have written evidence from Daily Telegraph journalist Emily Gosden that Francis Egan told her he envisaged 100 well pads)?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question – We think he should be able to answer]
1.5. Do you stand by your comments made in public in St Annes, and to the Defend Lytham committee in your surgery, that you could not support such a scale of development?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question – Why?]
1.6. If so at what point will you begin to demonstrate that you do not support this level of development in your constituency.
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
2. Regulation
2.1. What is the “gold standard of regulation” that you refer to – What does it actually mean?
2.2. Why do you not insist that we need it for exploration as well as production?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
2.3. You said in parliament (3) “although I welcome the environmental assessment currently being undertaken by the Environment Agency, I call for environmental impact studies to be undertaken on any proposed site, regardless of size”. Do you still support mandatory Environmental Impact Assessments on all development and production wells and why?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
2.4. What is your reaction to the fact that Conservative MEPS have stated that they intend to block vote against the EU amendment which would make Environmental Impact Assessments mandatory on all developments?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
2.5. What is your reaction to the fact that in spite of your calls for mandatory EIAs the coalition government has released new planning guidelines (4), which make it clear that EIAs will only be required by exception?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
2.6. You also asked in parliament (3) “Furthermore, does the Minister have any plans to encourage a health impact assessment in a similar vein” Will you insist on health impact assessments?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
2.7. You stated (3) “I do not believe that the regulatory system is robust or transparent enough to instil public confidence should permission be granted to the industry. That is why I am calling for an independent panel of experts to be set up without delay”. We ended up with The Office of Unconventional Gas and Oil (OUGO), a subsidiary of DECC and therefore not independent, whose brief is to promote shale gas and streamline regulation – do you agree that we did not get what you said was needed?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question – It isn’t complicated – We think he should be able to answer it.]
2.8. Will you continue to call for an independent panel of experts to enforce regulation or are you now going to accept OUGO even though you stated (3), when calling for an independent panel that it “is vital that we support the work of current regulatory bodies. In no uncertain terms can we allow the environment or the well-being of our constituents to be compromised”
2.9. David Cameron said “No regulation must get in the way” (5) of shale gas extraction. Do you think he is right to say this? If not when will you comment on this publicly?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
2.10. Do you support the European Groundwater Daughter Directive which means that fracking companies must monitor and manage all fracking fluids?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
2.11. Will you insist that green tanking / green completion to minimize methane emissions should be made mandatory?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
2.12. You stated in parliament (3) that “I would consider the current site at Anna’s road, where exploratory drilling is taking place, to be an unacceptable location for extraction to occur. I would vehemently oppose its development as such”. What are the specific grounds on which you regard Anna’s Road as unacceptable as a location for extraction to occur?
3. Planning
3.1. You said on Radio Lancashire that “a lot of this (responsibility for decision on fracking) now sits in the hands of Lancashire County Council, who as Mineral Rights Authority have got rights over planning”. What is your opinion on the fact that the new planning guidelines take power away from CCs / MRAs and enshrine a presumption that permissions will be granted?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
3.2. Are you happy that new planning guidelines propose EIAs only in exceptional circumstances?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
3.3. Do you support the proposed “Revised requirements relating to planning applications for onshore oil and gas” (6) that drillers should not have to specify whose land they intend to drill under when applying for planning permission?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
3.4. Can you clarify Michael Fallon’s statement (7) “It’s for local communities to decide whether they want to host shale gas exploration. These are planning decisions which will first of all be taken locally and it’s up to the developer to engage early with local communities and explain to everybody what they’re planning to do.” It seems that this runs counter to the opinions being expressed by other members of the government.
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
3.5. Do you support the idea expressed above that local communities should be able to veto shale gas wells in the same way that Eric Pickles’ Department suggests that will be able to veto windfarms (8)?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
4. Management
4.1. There is currently no regulation that forces operators to fund Bonds for Abandonment up front. Cuadrilla suggested to John Hayes in December 2012 (9)that they had put in place “additional financial security to address any concerns about well abandonment commitments”. However, when Cuadrilla were asked “Firstly, as this was “additional” what financial security was already in place against well abandonment issues. Secondly, how much money has been set aside in total to “address any concerns about well abandonment commitments”, where is it and how can we be sure it will still be safely available in future (will it be held in escrow somewhere?) their response via their PR agency, PPS Group, was “Cuadrilla has more than adequate funding available to provide for security for wells drilled in the current exploration phase. Should an increase in scale during any extraction phase require additional security, Cuadrilla will agree with the appropriate regulatory authority (in this instance DECC) what security it requires.”
From this rather vague statement it is clear that the claim made by Mr Egan to Mr Hayes is misleading as it suggests that additional financial security has already been put in place? Clearly the implication of Mr Egan’s statement was that Cuadrilla had set aside a sum of money as security against abandonment. This is evidently not the case as you can see from their subsequent response. You were made aware of this issue in March 2013. Can you please tell us what progress you have made in ensuring that operators are made to fund bonds for abandonment before any work, exploratory or otherwise, takes place?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
4.2. What level of “community benefit” payment do you regard as adequate for development wells and what % of profit on production wells?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
4.3. Are you confident that profit will not simply be funneled to other parts of any operator’s group structures to avoid both tax and community payments – especially if the operators have a significant proportion of offshore investment?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
4.4. Who is the “community” to whom any benefit will be paid?
4.5. Do you agree that, as the County Council is also the Minerals Rights Authority responsible for planning decisions on shale gas developments, that there would be a clear conflict of interests if the County Council were allowed to receive financials benefits as a result of granting permission for shale gas projects?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
4.6. What steps are in place to ensure that fracking companies are made to pay to rectify damage incurred to highways due to excessive traffic created by their traffic?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
5. Political Issues
5.1. Do you believe that shale gas extraction in the UK will bring down energy prices?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
5.2. Do you believe a significant number of jobs will be created? If so, how many? How many of these would be for local people in the Fylde? For how long will they last?
5.3. Are you committed to the government’s legally binding emissions limit of 1,950 MtCO2e over the fourth carbon budget period (2023 to 2027)?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
5.4. If so, in your opinion how will support for shale gas allow us to meet this target?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
5.5 Are you aware that Cuadrilla are obliged to relinquish 50% of their licence are before the end of this year?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question – We think he should know the answer]
6. Risks
6.1. Flood risk – Given the recent floods in Colorado and the associated problems with contamination resulting from flooded and damaged shale gas installations, do you feel that the flood plain of the Fylde (10) is an appropriate location for shale gas extraction?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
6.2. If so how do you believe measures can be put in place to protect shale gas installations against potential flood risk?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
6.3. Do you believe that the local agriculture and tourism industries would be affected in the event of a development of 100 well pads in the Fylde?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
7. Overall
7.1. Are you for or against the development of shale gas extraction at the level proposed in your constituency?
[Mr Menzies declined to answer this question]
Notes:
1. “In our licence alone we can supply a quarter of the UK’s gas demand” Mr Egan said.”
2. IOD “Getting Shale Gas Working” – P128
3. Adjournment debate – 24th October 2012
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm121024/debtext/121024-0004.htm
4. “An Environmental Impact Assessment is only required if the project is likely to have significant environmental effects.” DCLG – Planning practice guidance for onshore oil and gas
5. “UK Prime Minister David Cameron offered robust support for European exploitation of shale gas, telling journalists: “No regulation must get in the way.” http://euobserver.com/news/120202
6. “The Government is minded to amend the notice requirements for applications for planning permission for under ground oil and gas operations. It would retain the requirement to serve notice on individual owners and tenants of land on the above ground area where works are required (who the applicant knows to be such a person and whose name and address is known to the applicant) but remove this requirement for owners of land beyond this area ie the owners of land where solely underground operations may take place”
7. Eric Pickles statement reported on http://uk.news.yahoo.com/minister-hails-wind-power-potential-104823012.html#pXcDkQh
8. “Current planning decisions on onshore wind are not always reflecting a locally-led planning system. New planning guidance supporting the planning framework from DCLG will make clear that the need for renewable energy does not automatically override environmental protections and the planning concerns of local communities. It will give greater weight to landscape and visual impact concerns”
9. Letter to John Hayes MP from Francis Egan of Cuadrilla
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/79201/080213Cuad.pdf
10. No change scenario – Map based on nothing being done to the existing flood defences and it uses the results of an extreme tide; and it takes account of global warming and sea level rise.
Mr Menzies Response.
Thank you for your continued correspondence and the list of 38 questions relating to the shale gas industry you recently sent to me.
Over the last two years you have written to me on at least 24 separate occasions about a wide range of issues.
I have always tried to do as you request or answer all the letters you sent with a detailed response covering each and every issue laid out.
However, on this occasion I am sorry to say that I am unable to accurately answer the 38 separate questions you have submitted on behalf of Defend Lytham.
The reason for this is that many of the questions assume that I have a detailed technical knowledge of the engineering requirements behind the shale gas industry or are of such a speculative nature that it would be inappropriate of me to hypothesise on the answers.
I believe that the issue of shale gas extraction is of huge importance and should be treated as such, and therefore I am unwilling to conjecture on the various issues based on press speculation or rumour.
However, I will try to answer the questions which I am able.
As you are aware, I have been championing a gold standard of regulation surrounding shale gas extraction since shortly after I was elected to parliament.
You have asked what that would entail and much of what I mean can be found already at work within our successful offshore oil and gas industry.
These processes include mandatory Environmental Risk Assessments, regular on the ground well inspections, ensuring water requirements can be met sustainably and making sure regulation remains fit for purpose of the industry grows.
In line with that I called an adjournment debate in October 2012 – which can be found at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmhansrd/cm121024/debtext/121024-0004.htm#12102465001852 – where I asked for the creation of a body to oversee the industry’s various regulators.
This has now been set up in the Office of Unconventional Gas and Oil and one of my focuses from here is to ensure that office fulfills its obligations as set out in its mandate and that existing regulators perform detailed scrutiny of potential shell gas sites in file.
During the debate, I also flagged up concerns over the Anna’s Road site and said I would vehemently oppose any future development on that site.
You asked why I regarded the area as unacceptable and it is because I believe the moss land between Lytham and St Annes and Blackpool should be protected and not be developed. In the past I have opposed the Queensway housing development close to this site because of similar concerns.
Cuadrilla Resources has now discontinued its plans for Anna’s Road and is currently working towards returning the site to its previous condition, something which I’m sure you will join me in welcoming.
In my debate, I also asked for rigourous on-the-ground inspections of any sites and in the last month I have had two meetings with Environment Secretary Owen Paterson MP who gave me his personal assurances that there will indeed be a rigourous regime in place should extraction go ahead.
In July this year, I also called the Westminster Hall debate to discuss the work which has been carried out by government since my previous adjournment debate. Should you wish to be the contents of that for further information can be found at:
With regard to your specific questions around community benefits, I recently met with the Prime Minister to discuss this very issue. While the specific details of how any payments would be made are still being decided, he assured me that the intention was that people living closest to any potential wellsites would be the ones to principally benefit.
You also asked about jobs related to the shale gas industry and I feel we are now moving into an area which is highly speculative at this stage.
However, the Prime Minister recently referred to making Blackpool the shale gas centre for Europe and I feel I should clarify this point as there appear to have been some misunderstandings surrounding what he meant by that.
Rather than indicating the Fylde Coast should have more drill sites than anywhere else, the Prime Minister was in fact referring to the infrastructure attached to the industry.
If there are any jobs in the manufacturing sector, either in research and design or establishing a head office, then I would prefer those employment opportunities were in filed rather than elsewhere in the UK or Europe.
I hope this answers at least some of the questions you had. As ever should you have any specific concerns you wish me to bring to the attention of ministers, as I have done for you on numerous occasions in the past, I will of course be only too happy to do so.
Many thanks for your continued interest in this subject. Mark Menzies Member of Parliament for Fylde
http://www.defendlytham.com/mark-menzies-refuses-to-answers-most-of-our-questions-on-fracking/
http://www.refracktion.com/index.php/why-be-concerned/regulation-of-shale-gas-extraction/
http://www.refracktion.com/index.php/mark-menzies-mp-regulation-and-cuadrilla/
http://stopfyldefracking.org.uk/latest-news/is-fylde-mp-mark-menzies-cuadrillas-latest-pr-recruit/
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/21/cuadrilla-lancashire-fracking-should-be-refused
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