Rishi Sunak has reinstated the fracking ban – but the damage of the Truss era is done

Editorial: The voters in areas targeted for seismic action cannot trust the Tories to keep their promises on fracking, no matter how sincere the prime minister sounds

(Dave Brown)

What a time to be a fracker. No sooner had they ordered fresh geological surveys, drill bits, hard hats and barbed wire, than their hopes have been dashed.

In his first policy U-turn, announced as a response to a question from Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, Rishi Sunak has restored the moratorium on extracting shale gas that formed part of the 2019 election manifesto. Mr Sunak has made many errors of judgement in his brief but meteoric rise to power, but on this he deserves lavish praise.

Of course, there is a political aspect to the change of tone and policy. The fracking policy affected areas such as Lancashire, Yorkshire and Somerset which had plentiful supplies of marginal parliamentary constituencies as well as shale gas. Whether justified or not, residents feared that fracking would produce earthquakes and devastate house prices, as well as cause noise, traffic and noxious fumes during and after development.