'Do they want well-paid jobs?': Nigel Farage says he would offer fracking 'referendum' to affected communities

Nigel Farage plans to give local communities a vote on whether fracking happens in their areas as Reform seeks to introduce the controversial gas drilling process across the North.

He told The Yorkshire Post that a Reform government could introduce local referendums on whether communities would accept the process in their area.

Speaking to this newspaper ahead of a political rally at Doncaster Racecourse on Thursday afternoon, the Reform leader said fracking could help generate more energy for the UK and drive down bills.

Fracking, which has not been used in the UK since 2011 after it was deemed to have been the cause of earth tremors in Lancashire, has long been controversial in Yorkshire.

In the 2010s, seven companies had Government licences to see if the technique was feasible in different parts of the region.

Then Prime Minister Theresa May insisted it would be safe and financially beneficial to residents in Yorkshire living nearby.

But shortly before the 2019 General Election, Boris Johnson placed a moratorium on fracking following a report by the Oil and Gas Authority which found it was not currently possible to accurately predict the probability or magnitude of earthquakes linked to fracking operations.

Mr Farage, who used his visit to predict Andy Burnham will call an early general election in May, said Doncaster had been selected as the starting point for a national tour by Reform as the city “is at the epicentre of deindustrialisation”.

“A Labour government led by the ‘King of the North’ says it is going to reindustrialise. That is literally impossible when our energy costs this week are 8.3 times that of North America and 12 times that of China.”

When asked how Reform would solve that issue, Mr Farage said: “You basically get rid of net zero green subsidies, and you accept the argument that you're better off making things here under tight environmental regulations than you are in outsourcing it all to India and China, where it's produced under lower environmental standards and then shipped back in.

“We have, from here down through the Humber, potentially a very massive gas field. Now clearly onshore is more debatable than offshore.

“But I wonder if you gave people a referendum here… ask people do they want well-paid jobs, or don't they? If they say no, well, that's up to them.”

Energy bosses have separately been lobbying for the UK Government to approve drilling for the Jackdaw and Rosebank projects in the North Sea.

Mr Farage added of his fracking vote idea: “Even if that wasn’t done, there is no doubt that Jackdaw could be in production within 11 weeks.”

When asked whether the referendum idea would be in the Reform manifesto, Mr Farage said: “It would be a local thing, it wouldn’t be a national thing.

“But are we going to increase offshore production? You bet your life we are. Norway in the last two years has opened 50 new drill sites. We've opened zero. Either the Norwegians are bonkers or we are.”

A Reform spokesperson subsequently said details of how such a referendum or referendums would work are still being worked out but the party’s position is that any fracking projects would require the support of communities, who could “share in the prosperity” of any such scheme if they voted to go ahead.

Last week, Ineos paused production at three chemical sites in Hull with high gas prices blamed for the decision by CEO Sir Jim Ratcliffe.

Labour is opposed to fracking but in his conference speech this week, Andy Burnham said he would take a “pragmatic” approach in relation to the North Sea, as well as expanding nuclear and renewable energy usage.

The Prime Minister said: “One of the biggest barriers to growth in the UK is the cost of energy. British businesses and billpayers pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe.

“Within 10 years, I want those costs to be in line with our neighbours.”