Climate News: Labour’s Energy Secretary Ed Miliband pledges permanent end to fracking

As of 1 October 2025, Ed Miliband, the current energy secretary under Keir Starmer’s Labour government, has promised to permanently ban the practice of fracking in the UK at the “earliest opportunity.” 

This pledge comes little more than a month after Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice promised that the party would “lift any fracking ban immediately” should they win the next general election. 

Fracking is the process of forcefully injecting fluid, such as water, into the earth to force trapped gas or crude oil to the surface. It is heavily opposed by climate activism groups such as Greenpeace on the grounds of the air, water, and noise pollution it can cause, disruption to the countryside, and its inability to lower energy costs. 

The original restrictions were imposed in 2019 under Boris Johnson’s Conservative government ‘on the basis of the disturbance caused to residents’

At present, fracking is under a moratorium in the UK, meaning that only a suspension on licences being granted prevents it. A permanent ban would require a parliamentary vote to repeal, making it more difficult for any future government to do so. 

The permanent ban formed a part of Labour’s 2024 manifesto that led to their election, and will begin to come into effect this autumn, according to Miliband. In the same election, Reform UK ran on the promise to fast-track shale gas licences – otherwise known as fracking – as part of a wider “anti-net zero” politics that argue leaving shale gas deposits unextracted is “grossly financially negligent,” despite the falsehood of that claim. 

Fracking has faced numerous challenges in the UK, however. The original restrictions were imposed in 2019 under Boris Johnson’s Conservative government “on the basis of the disturbance caused to residents,” with those disturbances being nearly 200 earthquakes as high as 2.9-Richter in one year at a Lancaster site.  

In 2022, Liz Truss lifted the ban, an act that ultimately led to “chaos” and rebellion among Tory MPs and Truss’ resignation. The moratorium was then reinstated by Rishi Sunak and has remained in place. 

The current Labour government now seeks to end the debate for good with this new legislation, citing its inability to reduce energy bills and its detrimental effects on the climate.