Labour plans new law to ban fracking permanently

The Labour government is planning to pass a new law that would ban fracking for shale gas permanently in England, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has announced.

At Labour's conference, Miliband said he wanted to legislate at the earliest opportunity and launch a national campaign against fracking in the meantime.

Fracking is currently only limited by a suspension on ministerial decisions to grant licences.

The practice has been suspended numerous times over the last few decades, most recently in 2022, over concerns about earthquakes and environmental impacts.

But Reform UK has said it would bring back fracking and has threatened to "wage war" on renewables developers if it wins power.

In speech at Labour's conference, Miliband said fracking would "not take a penny off bills" and "trash our climate commitments".

"The good news is that communities have fought back and won this fight before and will do so again," Miliband said.

Labour said Miliband would launch a campaign to take on Reform UK over shale gas exploration.

The energy secretary told Labour's conference: "Let's ban fracking and send the frackers packing."

The government will announce in the outcome of the North Sea Energy Future consultation that it will legislate to permanently ban new onshore oil and gas licences, ensuring that no future fracking can take place in England.

Labour sources say a timeline for the legislation will be set out in due course.

Fracking projects under previous governments were hampered by planning delays, minor earthquakes, legal challenges and persistent protests.

Rishi Sunak reinstated the moratorium on fracking when he was prime minister in 2022 and Labour said it would ban the practice permanently in its general election manifesto.

The party says Miliband's campaign will rally activists and local communities across the country against fracking, and promote investment in clean, homegrown power.

Labour is focusing on building out the UK's renewable energy and is aiming for clean power to meet 95% of electricity demand by 2030.

It is part of the government plan to achieve the target of reducing carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.

In his speech, Miliband also announced an expansion of Great British Energy's scheme to install solar panels on the roofs of schools and hospitals.

He also outlined plans to boost the number of jobs in the clean energy sector and improve workers' rights in those industries.

Throughout the conference, Labour ministers have said they're in a fight over climate action with Reform UK, which has pledged to scrap net zero if the party wins power.

In his speech, Miliband said Labour had to take the fight to Reform, which "would wreck everything we are doing".

"And let's call it out: theirs is an all-out war on future generations too," Miliband said.

"I'm proud of British climate leadership. I'm proud of Labour climate leadership."

Polling consistently shows a majority of the public supporting the UK's net zero target but also indicates public concern over the costs.

Labour has spent its week in Liverpool targeting Nigel Farage, with Sir Keir Starmer using his speech on Tuesday to accuse the Reform UK's leader of not believing in Britain and sowing division.

Miliband said the threat from Reform "goes beyond their climate denying agenda".

He said Farage was "a key part of a global network who together want to destroy the ties that bind our communities and our way of life".

The energy secretary lashed out at the billionaire Elon Musk, accusing him of inciting "violence on our streets" and enabling "disinformation through X".

Miliband said: "Conference, we have a message for Elon Musk: Get the hell out of our politics."

At the conference, ministers have also said they are considering removing policy costs from energy bills to make electricity cheaper.

Speaking at a fringe event, Energy Minister Michael Shanks said the government was "looking at everything" to reduce energy bills and understood "the strong argument for moving policy costs on to gas rather than electricity".

"I think it's really important to squeeze as much money out of bills as we can," Shanks said.

"We've not ruled out options but there are no quick answers that don't have trade-offs somewhere else."

Policy costs are effectively government taxes used to fund environmental and social schemes, such as subsidies for renewables.

These costs made up about 16% of an electricity bill and 6% of a gas bill last year, according to research by the charity Nesta.

The Climate Change Committee has long recommended removing policy costs from electricity bills to help people feel the benefits of net-zero transition.

The government's climate adviser said the move would make switching to electric technologies, such as heat pumps, cheaper and encourage take-up.

It comes as energy costs are up 2% from Wednesday for millions of people in England, Wales and Scotland as regulator Ofgem's latest price cap come into effect.