A future Labour Government would ban fracking

Shadow energy and climate secretary Barry Gardiner made the announcement at the party’s annual conference in Liverpool on Monday morning.

He told delegates that Labour will go further than its previous policy of a moratorium until environment conditions are met.

“There are technical problems with fracking and they give rise to real environmental danger, but technical problems can be overcome,” he said. “So on their own they are not a good enough reason to ban fracking. The real reason to ban fracking is that it locks us into an energy infrastructure that is based on fossil fuels long after our country needs to have moved to clean energy.

“So today, I am announcing that a future Labour Government will ban fracking - and we will consult with our colleagues in industry and the trade unions about the best way to transition our energy industry to create those vital jobs and apprenticeships which were are going to need for the UK’s low carbon future.”

Fracking is a process which involves gas being released from the ground by fracturing rocks underground.

Chemical giant INEOS has announced that it intends to submit five planning applications for vertical core drilling for shale gas in the East Midlands by the end of this year.

INEOS has licences to frack in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire and needs permission from local councils to drill vertical core wells as a first step in a process that could lead to horizontal fracking of those wells.

The Government has pushed for the development of Britain’s shale gas industry, saying it would create jobs and growth, reduce energy prices and cut the country’s reliance on gas imports.

Speaking earlier this month, INEOS director Tom Crotty said the extraction of shale gas could boost the local economy by ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’.

Nottinghamshire County Council is expected to publish its recommendations to councillors later this week as to whether or not they should approve a planning application for the county’s first shale gas well.

IGas, one of the country’s biggest shale companies, has applied to drill and explore for shale gas near Misson in north Nottinghamshire.

A meeting to discuss the application will take place at County Hall, West Bridgford, at 10am on Wednesday, October 5.