A group of MPs is campaigning to stop all forms of fracking in England by including them in the moratorium.

They said low-volume hydraulic fracturing – currently excluded from the moratorium – poses similar environmental and public safety risks as high-volume techniques.

A parliamentary motion, published last week, has been signed by more than 20 MPs at the time of writing. They were currently all from the Liberal Democrat and Green parties.

The moratorium, first introduced in 2019, prevents only a high-volume form of fracking, specified in legislation as associated hydraulic fracturing. This uses a minimum volume of fluid: 1,000m3 per stage and 10,000m3 in total.

But anti-fracking campaigners have argued for nearly six years that the moratorium must be extended to low-volume techniques.

The early day motion said a change in the planning laws was needed to “protect communities, meet seismic safety standards and align with the UK’s climate commitments and transition to renewable energy”.

The motion, tabled by the South Cambridgeshire Lib Dem MP Pippa Heylings, said lower-volume techniques had previously caused seismic events.

It pointed to the actual amount of fluid used in fracking at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road shale gas site in Lancashire. Even though the volumes were below the threshold for associated hydraulic fracturing, the operations caused multiple earthquakes. These included the UK’s largest fracking-induced seismic event, measuring 2.9LM, with damage reported across the Fylde region.

The motion called on the government to act urgently. A planning application for a lower-volume form of fracking, known as proppant squeeze, has been submitted by Europa Oil & Gas plc in the North Yorkshire village of Burniston. The proposal is currently being considered by North Yorkshire Council planners.

Proppant squeeze operations are proposed by Egdon Resources in the expansion of its oil site at Wressle in North Lincolnshire.

And Rathlin Energy is seeking an environmental permit to carry out what it calls a “very low volume hydraulic fracture stimulation” at one of its sites in East Yorkshire.

Steve Mason, of the anti-fracking network Frack Free United, said today:

“Clarity and consistency is needed and we have to extend the moratorium to include all uses of the technique. It’s the same, we all know it’s the same. Let’s remove the smoke and mirrors and call it what it is. Fracking.

“Personally, I think simply banning onshore production is the answer. It may be a small step compared to offshore production, but when the companies claim their onshore production is not significant enough to warrant environmental impact assessments of emissions, nipping this in the bud now to significantly protect local communities is the right choice, with little consequence on UK production.”

Earlier this month, the energy minister, Michael Shanks, said the government would consider all volumes of hydraulic fracturing when it introduced its ban on the process.

In a written parliamentary answer to the Burniston MP, Labour’s Alison Hume, he said:

“We are committed to banning fracking for good and any future decision on national planning policy for fracking will take into account all volumes of hydraulic fracturing.”

Europa Oil & Gas previously told DrillOrDrop proppant squeeze operations were “perfectly safe” and widely used. The company said:

“We’re not fracking, which is high volume fracturing for gas in shale. We are doing conventional fracking. We’re doing a very conventional hydraulic fracture.”

Details

Text of early day motion

“That this House welcomes the Government’s continued commitment to the fracking moratorium, but expresses concern that current legislation defines hydraulic fracturing only by high fluid volume thresholds, excluding lower-volume techniques such as proppant squeeze which have previously caused seismic events, including at Preston New Road in Lancashire; notes that such methods, while technically outside the current definition, pose similar environmental and public safety risks; recognises the urgency of this issue, with proposals for proppant squeeze in North Yorkshire pending; and therefore calls on the Government to update planning legislation to include all forms of hydraulic fracturing within the moratorium to protect communities, meet seismic safety standards and align with the UK’s climate commitments and transition to renewable energy.”

At the time of writing, there were four Lib Dem and two Green Party sponsors of the motion. The additional supporters were 16 Lib Dems and 1 Green Party MPs.

What are early day motions?

Parliamentary information said early day motions (EDMs) are submitted for debate in the House of Commons – but with no fixed date. There is no specific time allocated to EDMs and very few are debated. But they do attract public and media interest.

EDMs are used to put on record the view of individual MPs or to draw attention to specific campaigns. They can also be used to demonstrate the level of parliamentary support for a particular cause.

The information said only six-seven EDMs in a parliamentary session usually reach more than 200 signatures and 70-80 get more than 100 signatures. Many attracted only one or two signatures, the information said.

There were 802 EDMs during the 2023-2024 session of parliament. Members of the government, nor the speaker and deputy speaker normally sign EDMs.