Lush has provided its 105 UK and Irish shops – including windows, staff and online channels – for ten days to activist group Frack Off.

Announcing ‘Don’t Frack our Future’ yesterday, Lush will be pushing the campaign after the Government today proposed cutting tax on profits generated from producing shale gas from 62% to 30%.

The Chancellor George Osborne said the reason behind the tax breaks was that shale gas has a “huge potential to broaden the UK’s energy mix”.

He said: “We want to create the right conditions for industry to explore and unlock that potential in a way that allows communities to share in the benefits.

“This new tax regime, which I want to make the most generous for shale in the world, will contribute to that.

“I want Britain to be a leader of the shale gas revolution – because it has the potential to create thousands of jobs and keep energy bills low for millions of people,” he added.

During Lush’s campaign, the UK’s first shale oil site near the West Sussex village of Balcombe could become operational. The preparatory work for a 914 metre shale well has started.

Activists from Frack Off have hosted training sessions for all Lush staff – both at national managers’ meetings and – in situ – on the shop floor. More than 150,000 people will be engaged during the 10-day campaign.

Head of global campaigns at Lush Cosmetics, Tamsin Omond, said: “When we inform our customers that fracking and unconventional gas extraction is coming to the UK and Ireland they freak out.

“The idea that politicians are risking our water supply and our air quality so that energy companies can drill deep beneath our land goes against all common sense. This campaign will educate tens of thousands of people about the threat of fracking to their communities.

“With the success of community-led activism in France, Bulgaria, Australia, the United States and all around the world, I have no doubt that we will keep the frackers from our land,” she added.

Leigh Stringer

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