Jacob Rees-Mogg slaps down calls for local referendums to give fracking the OK

FRACKING should take place in rural Somerset, Jacob Rees-Mogg insisted yesterday - but slapped down calls for local referendums to give the OK.

The Business Secretary said he would be "delighted" to see the extraction of shale gas in his own back garden, and confirmed ministers would rip up rules to dictate the maximum level of earth tremors.

The PM has insisted there must be "local consent" for drilling - but hasn't said how this would happen.

Mr Rees-Mogg told a Telegraph fringe event that he backed giving locals compensation or money off bills as part in exchange for the green light.

He said: “I think people who are disturbed by the building works ought to get some compensation for that and that should be a payment to them.

"And then you should have a royalty for people where the shale gas comes from.

"The country wins - and you win."

The Business Secretary stood by the net zero by 2050 law - and insisted that while we may burn some coal this winter to keep the lights on, it did not have a future in the UK's energy mix.