The people of Barnsley, as I’m sure many are across the country, are rightfully proud of our heritage and our environment.

It is therefore unsurprising that the Government’s proposal to bring back the dangerous practice of fracking caused alarm across the country.

Fracking is a dangerous practice, that involves drilling into the earth and directing a high-pressure combination of water, sand and chemicals at a rock layer in order to release the gas inside. ‘Fracking’ literally refers to how the rock is fractured apart to release the gas.

After an earthquake was recorded at a fracking site in Lancashire in 2019, the practice was abolished. The Government promised not to support fracking “unless the science shows categorically that it can be done safely” in their 2019 manifesto.

However, in an explosive Parliamentary vote that turned into a vote of confidence in Liz Truss’ role as Prime Minister, ultimately sparking her resignation, Government sought to defend their proposal to bring back fracking, breaking their manifesto pledge in the process.

Though it seems the Government have finally seen sense and have announced a U-Turn on their policy to reinstate fracking, we should never have been put in this position.

There was absolutely no demand for bringing back fracking.

The returns fracking would have produced would have been so minimal, that Kwasi Kwarteng MP, when he was Business Secretary, stated that fracking “won’t materially affect the wholesale market price” of energy.

The founder of fracking firm Cuadrilla also stated that fracking is neither safe nor viable in the UK before the Government aimed to reintroduce the policy.

In short: fracking would not save people money on their energy bills. There was absolutely no new science to suggest that the practice is anything other than dangerous. There was no reason for this chaotic Government to hark back to such outdated and damaging measures.

The Labour Party have always stood firmly against fracking, and I spoke against this practice during Labour’s recent debate on the practice. Along with many colleagues from across Parliament, I am relieved that the Government appear to have announced a U-Turn, once again committing to a ban on fracking.

Keir Starmer set out Labour’s plan for clean power by 2030 at our Party Conference last month.

Our plan includes trebling solar power and introducing publicly owned Great British Energy to guarantee long term energy security and improve our capacity.

This would save consumers up to £93 billion on their energy bills.

Labour are providing the real solutions this country needs, whilst the Conservatives provide nothing but instability.

This Government are chaotic and irresponsible. Like fracking, they are outdated, out of ideas and certainly unwanted.