'We didn't vote for fracking' - Lancashire women plan protest at Conservative Party Conference
A number of women from Lancashire, dressed as suffragettes are planning to protest outside the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham with 'we didn't vote for fracking message'.
They are highlighting public opposition to the Government's plans to fast-track planning for fracking at the expense of local democracy
The women, many of whom live close to Cuadrilla's site at Preston New Road will be dressed as Suffragettes. Last month they were joined in a similar protest by actress Emma Thompson.
The protest is planned outside a fringe event where the Minister for Energy Claire Perry MP is speaking alongside fracking industry representatives .
Ruth Owens, a mother from Thornton in Lancashire, will be travelling to Birmingham.
"Fracking is being forced on our communities against the wishes of local people and democratically elected Councillors. We are at the Conservative conference to say enough is enough.
If the Government's proposals to fast-track fracking go through then the Conservative party will be remembered for opening the door to industrialisation of our precious countryside, undermining local democracy and silencing people on decisions which affect them."