Luke Charters, the Labour candidate for York Outer, has again warned of the ‘dangers’ of fracking.

York-born Luke, who is standing against sitting MP Julian Sturdy for a second time, told the Labour Party conference in Liverpool York voters face a ‘clear’ choice on the issue.

The candidate, who is running a petition against the method of extracting gas from the ground, accused the Conservative government of breaking election promises, as well as putting people and the environment in danger.

He told the Labour Conference in his speech: “The Tories want to dig up our countryside, pollute it with fracking wells, and funnel the money to oil and gas companies.

“The Tories’ own 2019 manifesto said they would follow the science on seismic activity. So they commissioned a report to see if safety could be guaranteed. That report, published last week, said it couldn't.”

Mr Charters continued: “We saw this week the Tories denying economic facts, causing sterling to plunge. Their deluded tax cuts for their rich friends stand to wreck our economy.

“We see this same approach with their environmental policy, where they are ignoring scientific facts. They will wreck our soil, wreck our water, and wreck our land for profits for their rich friends.

“Thankfully we, as a Labour party recognise the scale of the climate emergency.

“Our whole country knows we need to be investing in clean, cheap renewable energy. This will protect our planet, break the UK’s dependency on Putin, and provide sustainable solutions to our energy crisis.

He added: “From quadrupling offshore wind to investing in storage and green hydrogen, Labour will make the UK a clean energy superpower.

“So, [Conference], the choice for the York communities I hope to represent couldn’t be clearer.”

After the speech, Mr Charters called for Mr Sturdy to “stand clearly against the dangers of fracking.”

When the government last week overturned the fracking ban, the MP said in a statement saying he has for a decade being clear that fracking “should only proceed where there is local consent.”

He said Prime Minister Liz Truss has also repeatedly said that local support was also needed for fracking to happen. The MP had also raised the issue in parliament and within Whitehall on how such support could be measured, putting on record York residents’ prior objection to fracking.

Mr Sturdy added: “It is paramount that local people are at the heart of local decisions. From my inbox and conversations with constituents over a number of years, it is clear to me that fracking did not have local support before the moratorium and if that remains the case now, I will not support any applications for local fracking sites within York Outer.”