Jeremy Corbyn calls for blanket ban on fracking as he begins campaigning tour of the North

Mr Corbyn will join anti-fracking protesters outside the Lancashire site of shale gas firm Cuadrilla.

Ahead of the visit, Labour released new research that shows that fracking will make it impossible to meet the net-zero target for carbon emissions in this century.

The analysis suggests that even if carbon reduction continues at its current rate, the government’s target of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 will be missed by nearly 50 years and the emissions released by fracking would further push that back by decades.

Mr Corbyn said: “We need urgent action to tackle the climate emergency, and that means the Prime Minister immediately banning fracking once and for all.

“Instead of bending the knee to a few corporations who profit from extracting fossil fuels from the ground, we need to change course now. It’s the next generation and the world’s poorest who will pay the price if this Conservative government continues to put the interests of a few polluters ahead of people.

“Tackling the climate emergency cannot be left to the free market. Labour will ban fracking and our Green Industrial Revolution will face the climate emergency head-on and leave no community behind, transforming our country’s energy supply and creating 400,000 good, well-paid jobs across the country.”

The Labour leader will be campaigning across the North over the coming days, and will visit Southport, Liverpool, Manchester Nottingham and Mansfield.

A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “Independent climate experts have recognised that natural gas has a role to play as we meet our 2050 net-zero emissions target – now firmly set in law.

“Exploring the potential of a new domestic energy source is not only compatible with these world-leading climate goals, it could also deliver substantial economic benefits, through the creation of well paid, high-quality jobs.”