Ed Miliband to announce total ban on fracking

Responding to the news that Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is due to announce a total ban on fracking at Labour Party Conference this morning, Asad Rehman, chief executive of Friends of the Earth, said:

“By providing a clear vision for our energy future based on helping people, not on ignoring the science, the Energy Secretary has sent an important message that the government is listening to communities.

“Fracking is and always has been unpopular, both with people facing it off locally and the wider public. The government must now translate its plans to ban fracking permanently into policy, alongside closing a loophole in planning law that still allows it to happen by the backdoor.

“Expanding our clean energy infrastructure with the promise of hundreds of thousands of new jobs will bring down energy bills, put more money in people’s pockets, revive our economy and safeguard the planet.”

Earlier today, Friends of the Earth published new analysis which found that Reform UK’s unpopular pro-fracking agenda threatens more than 180 constituencies across the UK, with swathes of Scotland, the North of England, the Midlands and the South potentially at risk should the party ever get into government.

Recent YouGov polling found that fracking remains deeply unpopular with the public, with twice as many people opposed to it than in support.

Friends of the Earth's full analysis, including a link to the complete data set, can be accessed via the Friends of the Earth policy website.

ENDS