Government seeks to lift a ban on shale gas drilling in drinking water protection zones, key wildlife sites and under national parks. Without these strong rules, fracking should not be allowed in this country

On Tuesday, in a committee room in the House of Commons, the government will try to sneak through fracking regulations that are totally inadequate, completing their U-turn.

In January, under pressure from the public and MPs, ministers caved in and agreed to a crucial Labour amendment to the Infrastructure Bill. This ensured several safeguards had to be met before fracking could go ahead. It meant that fracking could not take place in areas where drinking water is collected or in protected sensitive areas. These areas include Britain’s glorious national parks and our vitally important wildlife sites.

Amber Rudd, now secretary of state for energy and climate change couldn’t have been clearer during the debate. She said: “We have agreed an outright ban on fracking in national parks, sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) and areas of outstanding natural beauty.”

But just weeks after making this commitment, the government performed a U-turn in the Lords. Ministers sneaked in a weakened version of Labour’s protections. We responded by tabling an amendment in the Commons to reinstate the more stringent safeguards, but the Tories used parliamentary procedures to ensure that the debate overran so MPs were denied a chance to reverse those changes.

Now, the new Conservative government is once again using a parliamentary backdoor to put something through at the committee in the Commons this week. This isn’t good enough. This is a serious issue and it deserves a full debate on the floor of the House.

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Source: Guardian Environment