More than 180 constituencies are threatened by Reform UK’s controversial pro-fracking agenda, new research has revealed.
The analysis by Friends of the Earth this week identifies the parliamentary areas that could be vulnerable to development for fracking if Nigel Farage’s party were to get into government.
A total of 187 constituencies are partially or totally within areas the British Geological Society has labelled ‘Shale Prospective Areas’ – locales where specific geologic conditions exist that could make fracking viable – according to the environmental justice organisation.
Of these constituencies, it found that 141 are existing Labour seats, 25 are Conservative, 15 are held by the Liberal Democrats and 2 by Reform, with swathes of Scotland, the North of England, the Midlands and the South potentially at risk. MPs, including former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner, Reform’s Lee Anderson and energy secretary Ed Miliband, are among those whose constituencies could be affected.
The Independent has now mapped out the research, showing the proportion of shale areas in each constituency, as well as the political party of the local MP.
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.
There is a de facto ban on fracking in the UK, originally brought in six years ago. The government ended its 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.
But Reform has called for more extraction of oil and gas, pledging to “unlock Britain’s vast energy treasure of oil and gas to slash energy bills, beat the cost-of-living crisis and unleash real economic growth”.
Last month, YouGov polling revealed the unpopularity of fracking with the public, with twice as many people opposing the practice as supporting it. This runs parallel to the consistent local opposition that communities facing the threat of fracking have mounted against developments over many years, which – along with tremors at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site – eventually led to the moratorium in 2019.
Environmental groups say the potential risks that fracking poses to water and air quality, as well as industrial sites blighting the countryside, the prospect of unpredictable earthquakes and the harmful warming effects that fracking contributes to climate breakdown, are all reasons that the practice has met resistance and failed to get off the ground in the UK.
Environmental campaigners have criticised Reform’s fracking policy, with Greenpeace UK’s Angharad Hopkinson calling the practice “polluting” and “deeply unpopular”.
Friends of the Earth is calling on the government to bring forward its permanent ban on the practice. At the Labour party conference this week, the energy secretary confirmed plans to bring forward legislation to end new onshore oil and gas licensing in England, including new licences that could be used for fracking.
Tony Bosworth, a climate campaigner at the charity, said: “Wherever attempts to get fracking off the ground in the UK have been made, local communities have always been in staunch opposition knowing they’ll pay the true environmental and local costs of developers’ get-rich schemes.
“Reform has seriously miscalculated if it thinks people will lie down and accept such a deeply unpopular policy were it ever to get into power.
“The fact remains that fracking will do absolutely nothing to ease the pain being felt in people’s lives either. With the price of gas dictated by global markets, it won’t make a drop of difference to our bills. The real path to cheap and affordable energy is going green and clean by unlocking the UK’s vast renewable power potential.”
The Independent has approached Reform for comment.
