| Just a few months ago, more than a decade of efforts to develop fracking for shale gas seemed to be over as authorities ordered the sealing of the only two horizontal drilled wells in Lancashire. But in the latest sign that industry leaders believe a U-turn may be on the cards, chemicals and energy giant Ineos has offered to drill a shale gas test site in the UK to demonstrate that fracking can be done safely as the country wrestles with high energy prices. The firm already has extensive licence interests to explore for shale gas across North and South Yorkshire, the East Midlands and Cheshire. But a moratorium on the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing has been in place since 2019. Ineos founder and chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe said the energy crisis was driving people into fuel poverty. He added: "It's a ridiculous situation with so much gas under our feet and we are today offering to drill a shale test site to show that a competent operator can be trusted to develop the technology safely".  A graphic showing Ineos' shale gas sites in the UK. Graphic: Lisa Walsh
The firm has not indicated which of its sites in the North and Midlands it might use for the test, if given the go-ahead. It comes after the Government published its energy strategy which focuses on securing UK energy supplies, as western countries consider how to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas. There has been pressure on the Prime Minister from within his own party to look again at the controversial gas source, and the order to permanently seal the Lancashire wells has been suspended. The Government has also commissioned a review into the science around fracking, which could pave the way to lifting the current moratorium on the process brought in over the tremors it caused. But Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has warned fracking would take years of exploration and development to produce commercial levels of gas. Sir Jim said the company would invite Government inspectors to monitor the site, and make it good if the science shows there are problems. "But if, as we believe, the opposite is true, we would ask that the Government looks again at shale gas which would allow the UK to benefit from its own resources, massively reduce the cost of energy and ensure our long-term energy independence," he said. 
Sunak in Darlington as tax row threatens to derail his political career  Rishi Sunak has lunch with staff on a previous visit to Darlington (Image: HM TREASURY)
His political career is at risk of being derailed by the row over his wife's non-domiciled status and his own former holding of a US green card. But a few hours after referring himself to Boris Johnson's independent adviser on ministerial interests as he sought to fend off questions over his family's finances, Rishi Sunak was in Darlington this morning. The Chancellor unveiled the preferred permanent location for the Treasury's Darlington Economic Campus and visited the market town to hear from the new recruits about how they have settled into their roles. His department has reached a third of its target to have up to 300 Treasury roles based at the temporary home for a new cross-Government hub, as part of a drive to have more than 1,100 new roles based there by 2025. While in Darlington, Mr Sunak held a Q&A session with Darlington Economic Campus staff, local businesses, stakeholders and Darlington college students before taking part in a panel session with Director General Beth Russell, and the Campus' first and most recent hires. And he unveiled Brunswick and Central Park as the remaining two contenders for the permanent site of Northern HQ, with the Brunswick site as the preferred location.
Senior MP on the 'worrying' North-South A-Level gap  Students in Greater Manchester get their A-Level results
The Northern Agenda's revelations about the North-South divide on A-Level provision - described as 'shocking' by a senior education expert - got a lot of attention over the weekend. Of the eight Parliamentary constituencies in England where there are no schools or sixth form colleges - either independent or state-run - offering A-Levels, six are in the North. And while that doesn't mean teenagers in those constituencies can't do A-Levels - there are often sixth forms just over the Parliamentary boundary - it shines a harsh light on the regional disparities that exist in education. Tory MP Robert Halfon, who chairs the Commons Education Select Committee, told us: "For too long there has been a growing North-South divide in this country. Rightly so, the Government is addressing this through its levelling-up policies, but education must be the cornerstone to this agenda. "Our Committee's recent report on the Education Catch-Up Programme (Is the Catch-Up Programme Fit For Purpose), highlighted already-existing regional disparities in terms of the take-up of the National Tutoring programme with 100% of the target met in the South, but only 59% in the North West. "Every child deserves an equal start in life, and it is worrying that this is not seen to be the case when it comes to post-16 routes such as A-Levels."
The key Tory strategy that most people don't understand  The North in Numbers podcast this week focuses on levelling up, the agenda led by Michael Gove
The alarming gap in A-Level provision is just another example of the massive inequalities that exist between regions in our unequal nation. And a new episode of The North in Numbers podcast sheds light on "levelling up" - the key Tory strategy aiming to tackle the issue but one that most people don't understand. Recent polling by YouGov reveals that 74% of people don't actually understand what the strategy led by senior Minister Michael Gove is - including one in four people who have never even heard of it. The North in Numbers tells the human stories behind various statistics for the north of England. In this episode - the first of series three - host Annie Gouk gets to the bottom of levelling up, speaking to policy experts and people working in some of the key areas the strategy targets. The North is a particular focus of the agenda, having been hit hard by long-term economic change such as deindustrialisation and the move away from manufacturing. Andy Westwood, Professor of Government Practice at the University of Manchester, says: "Austerity, Brexit and Covid have all come together to create a cumulative effect over the last 10 years. Whatever one thinks about each of those individual things, together they've made those inequalities grow."
A tale of two towns as Sunday Times names best place to live  Ilkley has lots of green spots and is right next to both Ilkley Moor and the Yorkshire Dales
As well as inequality between regions there's also plenty of variation across the North in terms of the economic prospects of towns, as reports this weekend from Ilkley and Crewe set out. In West Yorkshire, Ilkley has topped a list of 70 locations to be named the UK's best place to live by the Sunday Times. The town was praised for its top schools, interesting shops, spectacular scenery and convenient rail links. Judges were also impressed by its sports clubs and opportunities for young people, and by the energetic community spirit. Meanwhile in Crewe, Alex McIntyre of the Cheshire Live website reports on a slew of recent closures which have led to "a somewhat gloomy outlook for the town's future". Alex reports that Burton, Poundland, Boots Pharmacy, Total Fitness, Sainsbury's, Pizza Hut are just some of the businesses that have either closed or will be closing sites in Crewe. He adds: "Meanwhile, a huge pile of rubble occupies a significant part of the town centre, awaiting the long-anticipated, multi-million pound regeneration, and people remain confused over why a centrally-located car park remains closed as plans to turn it into an entertainment space appear to remain in limbo."
Does PM still think HS2 might have come to Bradford?  Boris Johnson is interviewed by Philip Davies and Esther McVey for GB News
Boris Johnson has appeared to confuse Leeds and Bradford for a second time, again suggesting the Government was considering bringing HS2 to the latter city. As Westminster Editor Dan O'Donoghue writes, Bradford has never been part of the HS2 plans but it had been hoped it would be a central part of the separate Northern Powerhouse Rail project - which was drastically scaled back in the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP). Earlier this year, the Prime Minister was criticised by Yorkshire MPs after he mistakenly told the Commons that he was not "ruling out" the possibility of HS2 going to Bradford. Mr Johnson, in an interview with GB News carried out by Northern Tory MPs Philip Davies and Esther McVey, appeared to make the same error. He said: "I know there was more we should have done to get HS2 to Bradford." Mr Johnson also defended the widely-panned IRP, saying: "I've had lots of days when I've felt I wasn't getting my message over, but when we did the integrated rail plan, I mean that was an incredible thing. "We were shortening journey times, it's the biggest investment in rail this country has seen and yet, all that happened, I got beaten up by Philip (Davies) for not putting a fast enough link into Bradford, when we're cutting all those journey times across the whole of the country."
Campaigners ecstatic as 98% in local poll vote against garden village  Local campaigners Jasmine Gleave And Nick Buckley
It's thought to be the first poll of its kind anywhere in Lancashire - and the results were emphatic. Campaigners trying to halt plans to build a garden village in the South Ribble countryside say they are "ecstatic" after a local referendum saw 98% of voters register their opposition to the proposed development. Residents in the Samlesbury and Cuerdale parish were asked whether they were for or against the 1,300-dwelling Story Homes scheme on greenbelt land just to the east of the M6. The proposal also includes a blueprint for a primary school, leisure facilities, a local shopping centre and employment space. In answer to the question, "Do you oppose the Story Homes/Cuerdale Garden Village development?", 474 people said "yes" and just nine responded "no". Turnout in the non-binding vote was 49% of the 982 eligible voters in the area. While the result has no direct bearing on whether or not permission will be granted for the development, Jasmine Gleave, chair of the recently-formed Save Samlesbury Action Group, says worried locals "can only hope" the housebuilder gets the message that they have been sent at the ballot box. 
Sign up to The Northern Agenda Has a friend forwarded you this edition of The Northern Agenda? You can sign up to receive the latest email newsletter direct to your inbox every weekday by clicking on this link.  Northern Stories  The newly-weds have received a wave of congratulations from fellow politicians and constituents
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Jacob Young, MP for Redcar, has tied the knot this weekend and celebrated with a 'lemon top' ice cream at the town's popular Pacittos. Mr Young, who has been MP for the area since the general election in December 2019, married partner and 'better half' Jack Robinson-Young at the registry office on April 8. Sharing a photo of the pair with their ice creams on Redcar seafront, the 29-year-old said he was spending the rest of the day with family and friends at Pinchinthorpe Hall, Guisborough, before heading off for their honeymoon. -
A damning report says senior leaders within Doncaster's children's services have overseen a 'significant deterioration' since its last inspection. A newly published Ofsted report heavily criticised failings on a range of levels but labelled the leadership of Doncaster council and that of Doncaster Children's Services Trust as 'inadequate' – the lowest possible rating. The overall rating says the services 'require improvement', writes Local Democracy Reporter George Torr. -
An MP who switched sides from the Tories to Labour earlier this year has been confronted by Jewish constituents who were 'disappointed' by the defection. Bury South MP Christian Wakeford, who crossed the Commons floor in January, addressed an audience at Whitefield Synagogue yesterday. Conservative campaigners, Labour councillors and members of the Jewish community attended the event organised by the Jewish Representative Council for Greater Manchester together with North West Friends of Israel. -
The Government will have the final say over whether a landmark mosque can be built overlooking one of the busiest road junctions in Preston. A public inquiry is set to take place into Preston City Council's decision to grant permission for the three-storey place of worship on land alongside the Broughton roundabout, where the M6 and M55 motorways meet the A6. The authority's planning committee voted in February to approve the striking building, the design of which won an international competition run by the Royal Institute of British Architects. -
The deputy leader of a Yorkshire council has hit out at fellow Tory councillors after they turned down his application to build a bungalow for an elderly relative on his family's own land. Selby District Council officers had recommended that Richard Musgrave's bid to build a dormer bungalow with a double garage and driveway in Bolton Percy was approved. But a majority of councillors on the planning committee voted to reject the proposals, with chairman John Cattanach, Conservative, saying it was "right in planning law to do so." 
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