More than a quarter of constituencies with fracking licences are in Reform UK seats or target seats, according to research by Unearthed, a Greenpeace-funded journalism website. The analysis found 127 constituencies in England and Wales have fracking licences already approved, all in the north. Of these, 34 are places where Reform came first or second at the last general election.
While Reform's leadership supports lifting the ban on shale gas drilling, local party figures in areas where fracking could occur are less enthusiastic. In Lancashire, Reform councillors said fracking was not right for the north-west after a series of earthquakes shut it down in 2019. In Scarborough, North Yorkshire, the Reform-led town council voted against planning permission for an oil and gas licence that would have allowed a method similar to fracking.
Fracking has been effectively banned in England since 2019, and the Labour government says it has no plans to reinstate it. A further 11 constituencies in Scotland had potential fracking sites, but the practice was banned there in 2015.
A YouGov poll of 3,000 people for Persuasion UK shows Reform voters are split: only 17% support the ban, while 43% oppose it, and 40% are unsure. Among potential Reform voters—Labour supporters in northern England near fracking sites—27% support the ban, 22% oppose it, and 27% feel strongly against new fracking licences.
Reform deputy leader Richard Tice called for the ban to be lifted, describing shale gas as 'energy treasure under our feet' and dismissing earthquake concerns as equivalent to 'dropping a melon from shoulder height'. Greenpeace UK's head of politics, Ami McCarthy, warned: 'Farage is threatening more than a political earthquake. The real-life tremors that Reform's plans for fracking risk creating could send seismic waves through the ground and homes of the very people he needs to woo.'
