Trapped beneath the rolling hills and farmlands of the United Kingdom lies a resource that has sparked heated political debate and inspired both hope and skepticism: shale gas. The method of extracting this natural gas, known as fracking—or hydraulic fracturing—has been a political minefield for well over a decade, with successive governments imposing and lifting bans amid public outcry and environmental concerns. Yet, as the nation stands at a crossroads in its energy policy, Reform UK, a party currently leading national opinion polls, is making a bold bet that the time for shale gas has come again.
Since 2011, fracking in the UK has faced repeated bans. The primary reasons? Fears over earthquakes, environmental hazards, and disruption to rural communities. According to BBC, the practice has been halted and restarted multiple times, most recently coming to a standstill in 2019 after tremors were recorded at a fracking site. Despite this turbulent history, Reform UK is doubling down on the promise of shale gas.
Richard Tice, Reform UK's deputy leader and energy spokesperson, has been vocal about what he sees as a squandered opportunity. "We've got potentially hundreds of billions of energy treasure in the form of shale gas," Tice told BBC. "It's grossly financially negligent to a criminal degree to leave that value underground and not to extract it." He argues that unlocking shale gas could transform Britain's energy fortunes—if only the political will existed to pursue it.
Reform UK's stance is clear: if they form the next government, the fracking ban will be lifted immediately. Tice promises a new approach, one that involves working closely with oil and gas companies to deploy updated extraction techniques at independently monitored wells. The idea, he says, is to confirm both the quantity of gas available and the safety of the process. "That will confirm the quantity of gas available and satisfy people that it's safe," Tice explained. He believes that within two years of testing, the UK will know definitively whether a shale gas revival is viable.
The party's leader, Nigel Farage, has also been active behind the scenes. Alongside Tice, he has encouraged oil and gas companies to prepare license applications for shale gas exploration, telling them, "Don't write off Britain. Keep us in mind, and in the run up to the next general election, you should be getting your ducks in a row and getting applications ready." Meetings in places like Aberdeen have underscored the seriousness of Reform UK's intentions, with the party urging industry players to be ready for a rapid policy shift.
Yet, history has not been kind to fracking advocates in the UK. Former Prime Minister David Cameron once promised a "shale gas revolution," but those ambitions fizzled out amid planning delays, legal challenges, and persistent protests. Charles Hendry, who served as energy minister during the early days of the UK’s fracking debate, has since become a skeptic. "When ambition hit reality, it wasn't what people had hoped for," Hendry reflected in an interview with BBC. "It is much more difficult than it is in the US. It's more expensive. It's more polluting. It's more disruptive."
Hendry’s doubts are echoed by the British Geological Survey (BGS), which has identified four areas with potential for commercial shale gas extraction—most notably in Lancashire and the Midlands. However, the BGS has consistently cautioned that more testing is needed "to prove that shale gas development is technically and economically viable" in the UK, noting that "it is far from certain that the conditions that underpin shale gas production in North America will be replicable in the UK."
Despite these warnings, some industry players remain optimistic. Egdon Resources, an oil and gas firm with licenses in the Gainsborough Trough, claims the gas in that region could be worth £140 billion to the UK economy and create 250,000 jobs, according to an analysis by Deloitte. However, as BBC notes, this assessment has not been made public, and the company declined to share the full report. Mark Abbott, Egdon's CEO, says the company is ready to invest millions in shale gas "if the regulatory environment allowed that." He adds, "Clearly Reform has a policy which is more supportive than we've seen for a while."
Star Energy Group, another company with interests in potential shale gas areas, shares this enthusiasm. Its CEO, Ross Glover, recently met with Reform UK councillors in Lincolnshire, where the party controls the county council. "We know there's a world class resource there," Glover told BBC. "I believe the UK needs whatever indigenous energy it can get, be it wind, solar, geothermal."
Reform UK’s approach, however, diverges sharply from that of the current Labour government. While Labour has promised to ban fracking permanently and focus on renewable energy, aiming for 100% clean power by 2030, Reform UK insists it will not invest public money in fracking. Instead, Tice says, "The government's job is to create an attractive regulatory and tax framework." This means leaving the financial risk—and potential reward—to private companies, while the state focuses on setting the rules.
Labour’s Energy Minister, Miatta Fahnbulleh, has made the party’s position clear: "We intend to ban fracking for good and make Britain a clean energy superpower to protect current and future generations." She argues that the biggest risk to energy security is continued dependence on fossil fuels and that only by "sprinting to clean power by 2030 can the UK take back control of its energy and protect consumers from spiralling energy costs."
Experts remain divided over whether a shale gas revival could deliver the economic and energy security benefits its proponents promise. Michael Bradshaw, a professor of global energy at Warwick Business School, warns that the UK's complex geology could make extraction significantly more difficult and expensive than in the US. "The work carried out by the geologists in our research programme suggested that the complex geology of the shale basins in the UK would make it significantly more difficult and costly to extract," Bradshaw told BBC. He further cautions that British shale gas might not be able to compete with cheaper imports from countries like Norway, meaning that consumers may not see lower energy bills in the short term.
As the debate rages on, the UK finds itself at a pivotal moment. Reform UK’s bold promises have energized supporters who see shale gas as a ticket to energy independence and economic growth. Detractors, however, warn that the environmental risks, public opposition, and global momentum toward clean energy make a fracking renaissance unlikely. With the next general election looming, the fate of Britain’s shale gas—and the future of its energy policy—hangs in the balance.
One thing is certain: whether Reform UK’s gamble on shale gas pays off or not, the conversation about how Britain powers its future is far from over.
