Conservative MPs have been ordered to defeat a Labour attempt to ban the return of fracking or be stripped of the party whip, ahead of a vote later.
In an extraordinary instruction, the Tory deputy chief whip has declared the clash “a confidence motion” – a status normally given to a vote on the future of a government itself.
It “is a 100 per cent hard 3 line whip”, an email to Conservative MP reads, adding: “This is not a motion on fracking. This is a confidence motion in the government.”
A senior Labour source said that the decision offered a “two-for-one deal” for disgruntled Tory MPs: “You can not only vote for your opposition to fracking, but also vote your opposition to the prime minister”.
But Downing Street sources insisted that the PM will not resign if she loses the division, as would normally be the case with a confidence vote.
The wording suggests any rebels will lose the party whip if they join Labour in voting to guarantee parliamentary time for a bill to ban drilling for shale gas – after ministers refused a vote on the controversy.
And it creates enormous difficulties for the dozens of Tory MPs who have vowed to oppose the return of fracking and demanded a mechanism for local people to block any wells.
In an attempt to buy off potential rebels, business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg promised MPs a vote on a consultation to decide the method for determining local support for any proposed fracking scheme.
At prime minister’s questions in the Commons, Liz Truss said the government will “consult on the robust system of local consent, give clear advice on seismic limits and safety before any fracking takes place.”
The consultation will consider ”all of the relevant people, the regional mayors, local authorities and parishes, as well as the concerns of those directly affected”, she said.
The Cop26 president, Alok Sharma, the housing minister Lee Rowley and the Cabinet Office minister Brendan Clarke-Smith are among senior figures who have spoken out.
The email, sent by deputy chief whip Craig Whittaker, reads: “I know this is difficult for some colleagues, but we simply cannot allow this. Please speak with your whip with any issues.”
Labour is staging an opposition day vote which, if it passes, would set aside Commons time in late November to force a further binding vote on fracking itself.
The tactic is a repeat of the way opponents of a no-deal Brexit seized control of the agenda to prevent Boris Johnson taking the UK out of the EU without an agreement, in 2019.
Ed Miliband MP, Labour’s shadow climate change secretary, called on Conservative MPs who oppose fracking to “put country over party”
“Today, Conservative MPs have a simple choice; do they break the manifesto commitments they made to their constituents and allow the government to impose expensive, unsafe fracking on communities that do not want it, or will they support Labour’s ban on fracking once and for all,” he said.
But Mr Whittaker has written: “We cannot, under any circumstances, let the Labour party take control of the order paper and put through their own legislation and whatever other bits of legislation they desire.”
Government ministers, led by Ms Truss, have claimed the soaring price of gas had created an opportunity for the UK to exploit its reserves through fracking.
But the argument was dismissed by the head of a government watchdog, who warned it would not ease the UK’s energy crisis and could cause “serious” environmental damage.
Lord Deben, chair of the independent Climate Change Committee, urged Liz Truss to “look at the facts”.
