It is being widely reported that Chancellor George Osborne (pictured right) will use tomorrow’s Autumn Statement to ratify as many as 30 new gas-fired power stations and make moves towards allowing further shale gas exploitation – a controversial procedure better known as ‘fracking’.

The approval of the new stations would be designed to provide a major boost to infrastructure and create long-term growth through the private sector, creating employment opportunities across the country and the supply chains of the companies involved.

But proposals to give the green light to further fracking would upset a significant group who say that the process’s environmental impact – including the creation of small earthquakes – outweigh the benefits.

See next week’s December edition of Recruiter magazine for analysis of the implications of Osborne’s announcements, due to be made tomorrow at 12.30pm in parliament.