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...

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