Reform's pro-fracking agenda threatening 180 constituencies

• The full data set of constituencies can be accessed on the Friends of the Earth policy website

New analysis published today by the environmental justice organisation Friends of the Earth identifies the parliamentary areas which could be vulnerable to development for fracking if Reform UK were to get into government.

The research finds that 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. Swathes of Scotland, the North of England, the Midlands and the South potentially at risk.

Last month, YouGov polling revealed the unpopularity of Reform's pro-fracking position 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.

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. 

Cracks are already beginning to show in the party's position on fracking too, with local councillors in Lancashire diverging from national leaders on the issue. Lancashire is one of the key areas where there has been fierce opposition to such developments.

To see off the threat of fracking for good, Friends of the Earth is calling on the government to side with local communities and send a strong message that fracking has no place in the UK by bringing forward it's permanent ban on the practice.

This must also involve the closing of a loophole that currently allows fracking by the backdoor through a process known as “proppant squeeze”, through which a planning application for a new development in Burniston, North Yorkshire is currently under consideration.

Tony Bosworth, climate campaigner at Friends of the Earth, 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. We saw how well that worked out for Liz Truss - backing fracking was one of the key factors that led to her demise. Communities that have driven would-be frackers out of their areas remain on standby to see them off again, whenever that threat should arise - and we will stand with them every step of the way. 

"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."

ENDS

Notes:

1. The full data set of constituencies can be accessed on the Friends of the Earth policy website.

2. Government urged to urgently strengthen fracking moratorium | July 2025