Scott Benton

Business Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg is facing a Tory backlash over fracking, with one MP accusing him of planning to " buy off" concerned local residents.

The government has lifted a ban on fracking in England but promised it will only go ahead with local consent.

Mr Rees-Mogg repeatedly declined to say how local people would be consulted, in a heated Commons debate.

He Said fracking would get local backing if the drilling companies paid residents for the " inconvenience".

" We should not be ashamed of paying people who are going to be the ones who don't get The Immediate benefit of the gas but have the disruption, " he told MPs.

Pressed further on whether consent would be obtained through local referendums or the planning process, Mr Rees-Mogg said: " It will be a matter that is dealt with in a governmental way. "

Tory MP Mark Fletcher said it appeared communities would be " bought off" to allow fracking under the government's plans.

The MP for Bolsover, a former Labour stronghold in Derbyshire, said: " I've listened carefully to The Secretary of state and I have to say The Local consent plans don't seem to wash.

" It seems to come back to communities being bought off rather than having a vote. "

A string of Tory, Labour and Lib Dem MPs with potential fracking sites in their constituencies joined in with the criticism.

Tory MP for Rushcliffe Ruth Edwards , said: " I have many concerned constituents who want to know that they have a genuine route to rejecting fracking applications that don't have local support, and I'm still not clear what that would be. "

And Scott Benton , the MP for Blackpool South, said " My constituents are understandably anxious about fracking returning to The Fylde coast. "

Labour's shadow Climate Change secretary Ed Miliband, who secured an urgent question in Parliament on the issue, described fracking as a " dangerous fantasy" and accused Mr Rees-Mogg of " creating a charter for earthquakes".

" We now have an energy policy run for big fossil fuel interests not for the British People . No to The Windfall tax and yes to dangerous, unsafe fracking, " He Said .

Mr Rees-Mogg said fracking was in The National interest and would make the country richer - and he accused Mr Miliband and others who spoke out against it of being " luddites".

He suggested current limits on acceptable levels of seismic activity are too restrictive and said the government is determined to " realise any potential sources of domestic gas".

Regulations require work to stop if tremors above 0. 5 on the Richter scale are detected, but Mr Rees-Mogg said he wanted that lifted potentially to 2. 5.

" There are millions of seismic events of 2. 5 or lower in The World every year, we should not assume that every seismic event is the San Francisco earthquake. "

But Conservative former minister Sir Greg Knight told MPs the risks of shale gas exploration were an " unknown quantity" and " the occurrence of seismic events as a result of fracking remains a challenge to the experts".

He added: " The safety of The Public is not a currency in which some of us choose to speculate. "

Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg said there was no evidence fracking was " worse" than coal mining or oil extraction, which were not subject to the same limitations.

While, amid opposition from environmentalists and local concerns, Prime Minister Liz Truss has backed fracking as a way to help boost the UK's domestic gas supplies during a time of skyrocketing energy prices.

She pledged that local support would be needed for sites to go ahead - and The Conservative manifesto for the 2019 general election said fracking would only be reconsidered if " the science shows categorically that it can be done safely".

Source of news: bbc.com