On the motion: Should time be made for MPs to debate a fracking ban?

MPs have voted 230 for yes, 326 for no.

The government wins the vote.

Comments from MPs

Labour MP Chris Bryant said cabinet ministers Thérèse Coffey and Jacob Rees-Mogg were among a group of senior Tories who were putting pressure on Conservative MPs to vote against the Labour motion on fracking.

Rees-Mogg has denied this, telling Sky News there was “no action that I saw” in regards to any wrongful behaviour.

Asked if what he saw was bullying, he said: “From what I saw, no.”

Labour MP Chris Bryant said Alexander Stafford, the Conservative MP for Rother Valley was “manhandled” and “bullied” in the voting lobby.

Bryant told Sky News: “There was a bunch of Conservative members who were completely uncertain about whether they were allowed to vote with the Labour motion because of what had been said in the chamber about whether it’s a free vote or a confidence vote.

“There was a group – including several cabinet ministers – who were basically shouting at them. At least one member was physically pulled through the door into the voting lobby.”

Commons veteran Chris Bryant says he saw members being “physically manhandled” and bullied into a voting lobby and calls for an investigation into what happened. Says this goes against behaviour code of MPs

Ian Murray MP said I’ve never seen scenes like it at the entrance to a voting lobby. Tories on open warfare. Jostling and Rees Mogg shouting at his colleagues. Whips screaming at Tories. They are done and should call a general election. Two Tory whips dragging people in. Shocking.

Lloyd Russell-Moyle MP said  Just seen Tory whips manhandling a crying Tory MP into their lobby for fracking. You couldn’t make this toxic stuff up, nasty to see the Tories at work, if this is how they treat their MPs spare a thought for the country.

Massive Tory row going on in the lobby, literally trying to force people through. Lots of anger. Jess Phillips MP

A Conservative MP said the government frontbench should “hang their heads in shame” as she said the leadership had “severely tested” Tory MPs’ trust.

Ruth Edwards, the Conservative MP for Rushcliffe, did not say she would vote against the government, saying: “I don’t support fracking, but I am even less keen on the idea of letting the Labour party play at being in government for the day.” She told MPs: “My final observation tonight is for our own frontbench. For they have enabled the opposition to force colleagues to choose between voting against our manifesto and voting to lose the whip.

“They should take a look at the faces of colleagues behind them, colleagues who have fracking sites in their constituencies, and they should hang their heads in shame.

“A Conservative government will always have my confidence, but its leadership today has severely tested my trust and the trust of many colleagues and I would advise them not to do so again.”

The backbencher Sir Charles Walker told BBC News the following:

As a Tory MP for 17 years, who’s never been a minister, who’s got on with it loyally most of the time, I think it’s a shambles and a disgrace. I think it is utterly appalling.

I’m livid and, you know, I really shouldn’t say this but I hope all those people that put Liz Truss in No. 10 – I hope it was worth it. I hope it was worth it for the ministerial red box. I hope it was worth it to sit around the cabinet table, because the damage they have done to our party is extraordinary.

I’ve had enough. I’ve had enough of talentless people putting their tick in the right box, not because it’s in the national interest, but because it’s in their own personal interest to achieve a ministerial position.

A Conservative-led council in Lancashire, which represents the area with the only two shale gas wells in Britain, has voted unanimously for the government to stick to its 2019 fracking ban commitments and clarify how local consent will be gained.

The moratorium on fracking was put in place in November 2019 by Boris Johnson’s government after multiple earth tremors were experienced in Lancashire near the active fracking site in Preston New Road. The greatest tremor at the site, which triggered the ban, had a recorded magnitude of 2.9 on the Richter scale.

In its 2019 election manifesto, the Conservative Party said it would not support fracking “unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely”. However, the moratorium on shale gas production, or hydraulic fracturing, was formally lifted on 22 September this year, after being mooted by Truss in her first speech to the commons as prime minister.

According to the Guardian, the leader of Fylde Council, Karen Buckley, introduced an amended motion on Wednesday night that called on the government to “set out how local consent will be ascertained” in the case of fracking and to “demonstrate the manifesto commitment of 2019”. All 40 councillors who attended the meeting voted for the motion.

Speaking at the debate before the motion was tabled, councillor Paul Hayhurst dismissed an idea that the government could try to buy residents’ support with one-off payments, according to the Guardian, and claimed proximity to a fracking site “blights” house prices.

He said that giving locals a lump sum of £1,000 to have fracking in their area, as has been proposed, “would really be like turkeys voting for Christmas” and said that “it will cost you £50,000 when you try to sell your houses”, the newspaper wrote.

Another councillor, Matthew Lee, was reported to have said that he conducted an online survey last week to canvas residents’ views and got “many hundreds of responses which found that 85% of locals are against fracking”.

Reader in geochemistry at the University of Edinburgh, Dr Stuart Gilfillan, and petroleum geologist Professor Richard Davies, told ENDS that the science on fracking has not changed since 2019. Both referenced the British Geological Survey’s (BGS) peer-reviewed report which concluded that predicting both the occurrence and size of large earthquakes remains a “scientific challenge”.

‘Let Lancashire decide on fracking’: politicians demand to keep local control over future drilling proposals

Lancashire County Council has called on the government to pledge that local politicians will be allowed to make the final decision on any future proposals for fracking in the area.

Conservative MPs are said to be discussing with Labour ways to block Liz Truss’s move to allow fracking at sites across England.

The prime minister is determined to press ahead with plans to boost drilling for shale gas, despite opposition from environmentalists, opposition parties and some Tory MPs.

Several Tories told the BBC they had talked with the opposition about which parliamentary mechanisms could be used to force ministers into yet another U-turn.

A Labour source confirmed they had discussed ways to force a vote in the Commons with backbench Tories opposing fracking.

Business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg – who announced the lifting of a ban on fracking last month – said MPs always “have a say”. The cabinet minister told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “MPs always have a say on what goes on. There are any number of mechanisms that MPs can use to have a say on things.”

Continue reading Tory MPs in talks with Labour to block Liz Truss fracking plans →

Cash For Fracking: UK Households May Receive Pay-outs For Allowing Fracking.

​Bribery refers to the act of offering, giving, promising, asking, agreeing, receiving, accepting, or soliciting something of value or of an advantage so to induce or influence an action or decision.  

A bribe refers to any inducement, reward, or object/item of value offered to another individual in order to gain commercial, contractual, regulatory, or personal advantage.

Bribery is not limited to the act of offering a bribe. If an individual is on the receiving end of a bribe and they accept it, they are also breaking the law.

Just some of the opponents to Fracking, Councils, Advisors, MPs and Scientists, and more.

Opposition to Wirral fracking grows

We need assurances that fracking will not be imposed on communities in Lancashire

Removal of fracking ban prompts concern in the Cotswolds

Conservative-led East Yorkshire Council votes to ban fracking

Fife Council opposes fracking as UK Government lifts ban.

Barnsley council will not pursue licences for fracking operations on its own land

Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely has said “The Isle of Wight is not a suitable area for fracking to take place and I would not support it.

Councillor Helen Hayden of Leeds City Council’s said: “we as an authority are opposed to fracking being imposed on local communities”.

Labour Party will Ban Fracking Again if Handed Power, 

Mark Drakeford’ firmly confirmed that there are no plans for fracking in Wales, 

Scientists and experts have been saying for years that the UK is not a suitable or effective site for fracking, as there are studies and reports to show the unpredictability of seismic activity across the country.

Michael Matheson, Cabinet Secretary  said: “To be clear – this policy change does apply in Scotland. “Fracking can only happen here if licences are issued by the Scottish Government and we do not intend to issue any licences.”

Liz Truss’s new adviser Chris Skidmore  on net zero emissions has warned investors to avoid fracking in the UK — saying the nascent industry would end up a “non-starter” — as he insisted the new prime minister would be resolute in her pursuit of Britain’s climate goals.

Keele University experts brand government fracking plans as ‘step backwards’

Kwasi Kwarteng himself has said we wouldn’t see any energy from fracking for at least a decade. And any shale gas that results will be sold by the producers on the international energy market to the highest bidder. 

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer referred in Parliament to some “myth-busting” tweets from Greg Hands in February when Mr Hands was energy minister. The tweet said it was a myth that extracting more North Sea gas lowers prices on the grounds that “UK production isn’t large enough to materially impact the global price of gas”.

 RSPB England, on behalf of the UK-wide charity, stressed that the scheme means wildlife is facing “one of the greatest threats it’s faced in decades”. The charity fears this government could bring about the end of “laws that protect our birds and animals, everywhere from forests to our coasts”. “Where you live, the wildlife and places you love, from the shires to the cities – all under threat from bulldozers, from concrete,” RSPB England warned.

Mark Glover a trustee at Gedling University said “Allowing fracking to go ahead would  threaten this country’s ability to meet its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.  Fossil fuels (including gas from fracking) have to stay in the ground to prevent an increase in the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere”. 

A British Geological Survey review into its safety was commissioned by the government but has refused so far to publish it. 

“Keep your fracking hands off Warwickshire”: Leamington and Warwick MP launches petition to prevent gas or oil extraction in our county.

To frack or not to frack? That is the question. Because the price of wholesale gas is sending energy bills sky high and Vladimir Putin is weaponising Russia’s vast fossil fuel supplies, it is right that every avenue of lowering energy bills and increasing Britain’s energy security is being considered. Despite all this, the case for fracking remains weak. It is unpopular, expensive and, most importantly, unlikely to yield enough gas to make a difference to either energy prices or our security.

The government was right to invest in our domestic industries in the Energy Security Strategy earlier this year. But what could the contribution of fracking be? The industry’s best projections show that in five years, fracking could provide 5 per cent of UK gas. Previous reports commissioned by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which remain unpublished but were seen by government advisers at the time, point to there being as little as two years of the UK’s total gas supply available as shale gas which could be extracted through fracking. It’s not enough to make a significant difference to our energy security. Whereas a national energy efficiency drive to lower the average Energy Performance Certificate rating of each home to C instead of D would cut UK gas demand by a more impressive 7.4 per cent. It’s certainly not enough to make a difference on price. In the first half of 2022, gas production in the North Sea increased by 26 per cent. Yet gas prices have not gone down. Gas is sold at the global market price, and the UK’s supply is not enough to make a difference to global prices.

The main reason fracking is so unpopular is that it’s not perceived as safe. In 2019, after an earthquake measured 2.9 on the Richter scale, the government introduced a moratorium on fracking because we couldn’t accurately predict or assess the tremors the process might cause. And as the new British Geological Survey review ordered by the government found, we still cannot accurately predict these tremors. In Britain, we have a much higher population density than the US, where fracking has played a significant part in the energy supply. Fracking would have to take place much closer to people’s homes. That’s why it’s absolutely vital that fracking is only carried out if it has the consent of the local community.

This is what was promised by the Prime Minister in her leadership election. But despite lifting the moratorium, ministers have not been able to tell us how this consent will be defined (what counts as the local community, for example) and how it will be measured. Instead, there has been a suggestion that fracking companies will need to produce attractive investment packages to incentivise local communities to host fracking sites. I have no problem with incentives for hosting energy production, but that is not the same thing as consent. If communities wish to reject a fracking site on their doorstep, despite the investment package, they should have a legitimate route to doing so. 

Scepticism about the latest attempt to kick-start fracking is neither “hysterical” nor “Luddite”, but considered. It is based on true conservative beliefs in evidenced-based policy, empowering local communities and focusing our resources on the solutions that will give us the most bang for the taxpayer buck. New renewables are nine times cheaper than electricity generated by gas power stations, and insulation can conserve gas and cut people’s energy bills by hundreds of pounds. We must go further and faster with building new wind and solar power capacity, and launch a national drive to insulate the UK’s nearly 19 million energy-inefficient homes. Simplifying planning rules for rooftop solar panels and speeding up the deployment of wind power will reduce our reliance on gas and lower prices. These net zero solutions, and more like them, are key to ending the spiral of high gas prices. It’s a popular path that unites the majority of people, which will bring bills down while creating jobs and new industries. Fracking is a divisive distraction from this and will not deliver for the British people. If we are to lift the ban, our focus and efforts must remain resolutely on net zero and ensure any new system respects communities’ right to say no.