Simon Lightwood MP condemns the Government's fracking plans

Wakefield's MP, Simon Lightwood (Labour) has today condemned the Government's plans to lift the ban on fracking.

The Prime Minister, Liz Truss, has stated her intentions to reintroduce fracking, despite the Conservative’s 2019 manifesto stating, ‘We will not support fracking unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely.’

Mr Lightwood pressed Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on this broken manifesto promise in Parliament today, saying:

'Fracking is expensive and dangerous, but it’s also a disaster for our climate.

Does the Secretary of State recognise that if every country matched his plans to extract “every ounce” of gas, the planet will warm by over 3 degrees, spelling climate disaster.

Does he not understand that this is a plan borne of climate denial and economic illiteracy?'

Frustratingly, the Secretary of State did not directly answer Mr Lightwood’s questions.

Mr Lightwood has joined calls from Labour's Shadow Secretary of State for Climate Change and Net Zero, Ed Miliband MP, for the Government to reconsider. In a statement, Mr Miliband said,

'Fracking is a dangerous fantasy - it would do nothing to cut energy bills, costs more than renewables, and is unsafe.

The Tories have broken another promise because they are more interested in standing up for the fossil fuel lobby than the British people.'

The Labour Party opposes fracking, instead calling on Government to relax some planning rules around renewable sources of energy, including onshore wind.

It is vital that we reduce our reliance on fossil fuels to improve our energy security and sovereignty, but the outdated practice of fracking is not the way forward.