The Reform UK mayor of Greater Lincolnshire has said her party will frack a shale gasfield near Gainsborough if it wins the next general election.

Dame Andrea Jenkyns acknowledged there was currently a moratorium on fracking in England. But she said Reform pledged to “drill, baby, drill”.

She told a Reform UK event in Boston this week that she had recently met the oil and gas company, Egdon Resources, which has the licence to explore and produce hydrocarbons in the area known to geologists as the Gainsborough Trough.

The company has estimated total production from the field at 16 trillion cubic feet. It said this was enough to meet the entire UK gas needs for 6.7 years at current consumption.

But Egdon’s estimates have been questioned by industry commentators. One told DrillOrDrop the claims were “so misleading as to be ridiculous”.

Ms Jenkyns said:

“Last month, I met with a fracking company responsible for a gas find in West Lindsey. But did you know that if we unleash this we would add hundreds of billions of pounds to the exchequer, create 250,000 jobs and obviously make us less reliant on foreign energy. I think this is a good thing.”

Referring to the energy secretary, she said:

“Miliband may have a moratorium banning fracking but as mayor, I can ensure that Lincolnshire people have the right skills so come 2029, if we have a Reform government, we can drill, baby, drill. And we can ensure that it is Lincolnshire people who have got these jobs.”

She also quoted the US president who had described North Sea oil was a “treasure chest” for Britain and how we had “essentially told drillers and oil companies that ‘we don’t want you’”.

Ms Jenkyns said:

“Donald is wise and we will not make that mistake. We value our oil and gas industries and know that they are essential for Britain’s energy security and to fuel our homes.”

A video of the mayor’s comments are on her Facebook page.

The latest advice to the government from its independent advisor, the Climate Change Committee, was for a rapid switch away from gas. Last month, the CCC said it was “important to get off unreliable fossil fuels and onto homegrown, renewable energy as quickly as possible. The fossil fuel era is over – cheap, clean electricity is our future.”

Reform inconsistencies

There have been recent inconsistencies in Reform UK’s support for fracking.

The Reform-led Scarborough Town Council in North Yorkshire objected unanimously last month to plans for lower-volume fracking at Burniston.

And a senior member of the Reform-led Lancashire County Council has called for a former fracking site to be fully restored after the operator applied for a two-year extension.

Joshua Roberts, the council’s cabinet member for rural affairs, the environment and communities, told BBC News:

“We want the site fully restored without further delays – progress has been far too slow.”

He said:

“Any extensions need to be backed by solid reasons and not excuses.”

The councillor said:

“We will look to see if everything on the site needs to stay for another two years, like fencing.”

He also said that although Reform’s national policy supports fracking, the process “has its place, but not everywhere”.

The government has committed to banning associated hydraulic fracturing, which is prevented by the moratorium in England. It has also suggested that it would consider widening the moratorium to lower volume forms of the process that are currently not included.

The energy minister, Michael Shanks wrote in a parliamentary answer, last month:

“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.”