Ed Miliband vows permanent fracking ban after Lancashire councillor warns of tremor risks
Ed Miliband has vowed to permanently ban fracking, warning that the drilling is “dangerous and deeply harmful to our natural environment.”
Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, the former Energy Secretary launched a fresh attack on Reform UK, which has called for increased oil and gas extraction. He urged delegates to “send this bunch of frackers packing.”
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a method of extracting oil and gas from shale rock by pumping liquids deep underground at high pressures to release the gas trapped inside.
The technique has previously sparked concern over earth tremors, including incidents on the Fylde Coast in Lancashire during operations at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site outside Blackpool in 2018.
More than 120 tremors were recorded during drilling, prompting protests and a moratorium on fracking in 2019.
There is a de facto ban on fracking in the UK, first introduced six years ago.
The Government ended support for fracking in 2019 after an Oil and Gas Authority report found it was not possible to accurately predict the probability of tremors associated with the practice.
The ban was briefly lifted in 2022 during Liz Truss’s premiership but was restored under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Mr Miliband branded Reform UK leader Nigel Farage “and his cronies” as “ideological extremists” and warned that their plans would bring fracking “into your communities.”
He said: “Fracking will not take a penny off bills. It will not create long-term sustainable jobs.
“It will trash our climate commitments, and it is dangerous and deeply harmful to our natural environment.
“Friends, the good news is that communities have fought back and won this fight before and will do so again.”
Lancashire voices
Locally, Blackpool councillor Paul Galley expressed concern over Reform UK’s pro-fracking rhetoric.
“Blackpool and the Fylde coast should be deeply worried by Nigel Farage and Richard Tice jumping back on the fracking bandwagon,” he said.
“Our geology is not suited to fracking. Residents have already lived with earth tremors and the fear of long-term environmental damage.
“Do we really want to risk poisonous groundworks, water contamination, and an unsafe environment for future generations just to chase a false promise?”
However, a Reform UK spokesman said the situation has already been explained by Cllr Joshua Roberts, the Lancashire County Council Cabinet Member for Rural Affairs, Environment and Communities and councillor for Fylde East.
The spokesman said: “As Cllr Joshua Roberts has stated previously, the conditions in the Fylde Coast are not conducive to fracking, and there are no plans for it to take place here.
“While Reform UK does support fracking on a case-by-case basis, any activity is expected to be more likely in the East of England rather than the Northwest.”
Environmental reaction
Several environmental groups welcomed Mr Miliband’s pledge.
Greenpeace UK’s Angharad Hopkinson said: “After years of hype, all this industry has brought to the UK are earthquakes and a couple of holes in a muddy field in Lancashire.
“Fracking is polluting, deeply unpopular, and even if it could be made to work in the UK, it’ll do nothing to lower energy bills.”
Tony Bosworth, Friends of the Earth UK climate campaigner, added that Reform UK had “seriously miscalculated if it thinks people will lie down and accept such a deeply unpopular policy.”
Alasdair Johnstone of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit said that renewable energy development is helping insulate the UK from volatile gas prices, reducing the need for domestic fracking.