IT seems Lord Howell is neither good at geography nor diplomacy.

He has managed to upset folk in the North East and the North West and dig himself into a big hole – a tracking hole, to be precise, as he does not want the search for shale gas to take place in ‘beautiful rural areas’ of the South but in ‘large, uninhabited and desolate areas’ up North.

So the North-South divide is still firmly in existence then. Well, certainly for those living in ivory castles south of Watford.

I found it rather telling that those remarks came from the father-in-law of George Osborne, that well known man of the people.

We must not turn our backs on the possibilities offered by fracking, though environmental safeguards must be in place.

Shale gas could halve energy bills in this country – but how about only for the people living in the areas where it is extracted?

Those in the ‘beautiful rural areas’ of the South can keep on paying top whack.

Paul Nuttall, UKIP North West MEP