Labour has committed to ban fracking if it wins the next election.
The party has so far called for a moratorium on fracking in the UK, and criticised the environmental safeguards that have been weakened by the Conservative goverment.
But Barry Gardiner MP, the shadow energy and climate change secretary, is expected to announce today that the party will ban fracking outright.
"Today I am announcing that the next Labour government will ban fracking in the UK," Mr Gardiner is expected to say at the Labour conference.
"Fracking locks us into an energy infrastructure that is based on fossil fuels long after our country needs to have moved to renewables.
"The next Labour government will back the clean technologies of the future.
"We will consult with our colleagues in industry and the Trade Unions about the best way to transition our energy industry to create the vital jobs and apprenticeships we are going to need for the UK’s low-carbon future."
The Labour Party has said that committing publicly and early to ban the energy will help provide certainty for investors. The news will help signal to people that Labour will look to move the country to an economy powered entirely by clean energy, it said.
The party says that it doesn't believe the returns from shale gas extracted through fracking will be enough to make up for the concerns about the technical problems fracking creates for the environment and communities.
Jeremy Corbyn had already suggested that he would look to ban fracking if he were elected to government, but today's announcement marks the first time the party has committed to making it policy.
