Liz Truss stumbles as she's grilled on fracking and local support by BBC presenter

The Prime Minister did interviews with a number of BBC stations as fears over the UK economy grow following last week's announcements by Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng.

One of the stations on Ms Truss' schedule was BBC Radio Lancashire, where attention turned to fracking.

Fracking - which involves pumping liquid deep underground at high pressure to fracture shale rock and release trapped gas or oil - has hit the headlines in the past when it caused two minor earthquakes in Lancashire at the controversial shale wells in Preston New Road near Blackpool.

A temporary ban was put in place but later lifted, but a new moratorium was imposed on fracking after a series of earthquakes in 2019, while opponents also feared the process could cause water contamination, as well as noise and traffic pollution at the drill sites.

A bid to open up a fracking site near Ellesmere eight years ago brought anti-frackers from across the country to camp out in the county. The threat disappeared when the licence for an exploratory test well expired and the farmer did not renew it.

However, while that threat is no longer a problem, there are more areas in Shropshire where licences could be applied for.

In 2013 a map was published by consultancy Amec listing the Meres and Mosses area - stretching from Shrewsbury up thorough north Shropshire and up to Cheshire in the north, Wrexham in the west and central Staffordshire in the far east - as a potential area for exploration. The Oswestry Uplands area was also been included on the road map.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has said lifting the ban means future applications will be considered “where there is local support”.

However, Ms Truss stumbled over her words and struggled to answer presenter Graham Liver's questions as he asked her what local consent would look like and quoted Blackpool South MP Scott Benton, who said he 'believes people in Blackpool South do not support fracking'.

He then played a clip of Fylde MP Mark Menzies speaking in the House of Commons, asking "how that local consent will be given and demonstrated", saying it's important if the Prime Minister is to remain "a woman of her word, a woman we can believe in".

"What does local consent look like, Prime Minister," he then asked.

Ms Truss stumbled as she began her reply: "Well, uh...the...the...the Energy Secretary will be laying out in more detail exactly what that looks like, but it does mean there is local support for going ahead."

"It sounds like you don't know," Mr Liver interjected, before the PM continued:"And I can assure Mark Menzies, well there are various detailed issues to be worked through, but I can assure Mark Menzies that I will make sure there is local consent if we are to go ahead in any particular area with fracking."

Pressing further, Mr Liver asked the Prime Minister: "But your local MPs don't want it - all Conservative. In the past the county council have said they didn't want it yet your Government overturned it; the science hasn't changed, why can't you tell us this morning there won't be a return to fracking in Lancashire?"

"Well I don't accept the premise of your question," Ms Truss responded.

"Why?"

"It's certainly the case at the moment. Well...because...what I've said is if there's local consent we will go ahead. We need to explore where there is local consent and where there isn't, and we're still doing that work. I don't think we should rule out the whole of Lancashire," she explained.

Mr Liver then asked "Your talked about how it's a success in other countries, but in America they do it in the middle of nowhere. Do you know where Preston New Road is where they've been fracking?"

After a long pause, the PM admitted: "Well I don't...I....I don't think I've been to that site in the past."

"Shouldn't you?" she was asked.

Truss: "Well...a...as I've said, we will only go ahead with projects where there is local consent, I'm very very clear about that. Now, we will make sure that that local consent is in place."