MAURICE VASSIE was surprised that I haven’t called for a referendum on the issue of fracking (Letters, October 9).

The reason I haven’t is quite simple, I don’t think such an issue warrants one.

I have been very clear in my letters on the subject that referenda are mainly reserved for serious constitutional issues, not for every local matter that attracts at least one objector seeking to make a fuss about.

Both the recently elected local council and MP have stood in support of the fracking operations so the democratic element has been satisfied.

You don’t hold a referendum simply because someone in Deighton doesn’t approve of fracking or because a parachuted Labour MP has sought to gain publicity from it.

It’s true some of the protesters are locals but you don’t allow an issue that affects the entire nation’s energy supply to be decided by a small parochial group in a village hall.

The irony is the progressives like to wave around the slogan “For the many, not the few”, yet here they support the few against the needs of the many. That’s socialism for you.

If you want a referendum against fracking in your neighbourhood by all means campaign for one but please do so in accordance with the rule of law unlike some of these protesters.

We’re not Catalonians and certainly don’t want that kind of trouble kicking off in Britain.

Dr Scott Marmion, Woodthorpe, York