Liz Truss WINS Commons vote on fracking despite mutiny threat by Tory MPs – but chaos in Parliament

Liz Truss tonight survived a crunch vote on her fracking plans but witnessed chaotic scenes in the House of Commons as her premiership continues to teeter on the brink.

The Prime Minister saw MPs vote by 326 to 230 to reject a Labour bid to allocate parliamentary time to consider a complete ban on fracking to extract shale gas.

But there was huge confusion in the Commons after Ms Truss appeared to ditch a plan to turn the issue into a confidence vote on her Government at the last minute.

Rumours swirled that Tory chief whip Wendy Morton and her deputy Craig Whittaker had resigned amid the chaos.

Tonight’s vote was also accompanied by claims Tory MPs were ‘physically pulled’ into the Commons voting lobbies.

Labour former minister Chris Bryant urged an investigation into the scenes in Parliament after he saw MPs ‘being physically manhandled into another lobby and being bullied’.

‘If we want to stand up against bullying in this House of our staff, we have to stop bullying in this chamber as well,’ he told Commons Deputy Speaker, Dame Eleanor Laing.

Mr Bryant later told Sky News a group of Tory MPs, who appeared uncertain how to vote, were ‘shouted at’ by Cabinet ministers.

He added Rother Valley MP Alexander Stafford, a Conservative critic of fracking, was ‘physically pulled’ through a door into the voting lobby. 

Fellow Labour MP Ian Murray posted on Twitter: ‘I’ve never seen scenes like it at the entrance to a voting lobby. Tories on open warfare.

‘Jostling and [Jacob] Rees-Mogg shouting at his colleagues. Whips screaming at Tories. They are done and should call a general election.

‘Two Tory whips dragging people in. Shocking.’

Mr Rees-Mogg, the Business Secretary, denied allegations of bullying and suggested a junior official in No10 had ‘erroneously’ said the vote was no longer a confidence issue to prompt the confusion.

Mr Stafford said he had ‘nothing more’ than a ‘frank and robust’ conversation.

The division list showed 40 Tory MPs did not take part in tonight’s vote, although some would have been on Government business elsewhere or had other permitted absences.

One Tory MP who witnessed the ‘carnage’ in the lobbies said: ‘I was waiting for the votes and then Craig Whittaker came out crying and saying he’s sick of everything. 

‘Then Wendy came out stony faced. The other whips say they have quit. It was absolute carnage.’

One miserable Cabinet source told MailOnline: ‘At this rate I’m going to be PM by Christmas. The writing was on the wall for Wendy since the day of her appointment.’

It was widely reported Mr Whittaker had exclaimed in Parliament after the vote: ‘I am f****** furious and I don’t give a f*** anymore.’

Earlier in the day, Conservative MPs had been warned they were on a ‘three-line whip’ to vote against the Labour motion.

They were threatened with having the Tory whip withdrawn if they did not, after the Government turned the vote into a ‘confidence motion’ on the PM’s leadership. 

It meant, if Ms Truss had lost the vote, she would usually either be expected to resign or request that the King dissolves Parliament to trigger a general election.

A No10 source said the PM would not be resigning.

Mr Whittaker had told MPs earlier today the vote was a ‘100 per cent hard’ three-line whip. 

But climate minister Graham Stuart sowed confusion when he told the Commons tonight that it was ‘not a confidence motion’.

Pressed on the nature of the vote, Mr Stuart further muddled the situation by adding: ‘That is a matter for party managers, and I am not a party manager.’

Labour had used the Opposition Day debate to try to ban fracking – which has been linked to earthquakes – and entice Conservatives unhappy at the method potentially being used in their constituency to show their displeasure. 

Former energy minister Chris Skidmore had said earlier he was prepared to ‘face the consequences’ of not supporting the government. 

‘As the former energy minister who signed Net Zero into law, for the sake of our environment and climate, I cannot personally vote tonight to support fracking and undermine the pledges I made at the 2019 General Election,’ he tweeted.

And his message was backed up by Guildford MP Angela Richardson and former minister Tracey Crouch.

Meanwhile, a serving Government minister said he would never support fracking in his local area, without confirming if he would vote against the Tory whip. 

Andrew Griffith said on Twitter: ‘Personally, I do not and have never supported fracking in West Sussex as our dangerous local roads would never support the additional vehicle movements even if residents consented.’

Fracking was halted in 2019 amid fears over earthquakes and tremors and a moratorium on new drilling was in the Tory 2919 election manifesto.

But Ms Truss approved a restart after taking power next month designed to boost energy security, supported by Business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg.

She has sought to reassure MPs with concerns that there would be a ‘robust’ process to ensure that local communities consented before fracking went ahead.

One Conservative MP said the Government front bench should ‘hang their heads in shame’ as she said the leadership had ‘severely tested’ Tory MPs’ trust.

Ruth Edwards, the Conservative MP for Rushcliffe did not say she would vote against the Government, saying: ‘I don’t support fracking, but I am even less keen on the idea of letting the Labour Party play at being in government for the day.’

But she told MPs: ‘My final observation tonight is for our own front bench. For they have enabled the opposition to force colleauges to choose between voting against our manifesto and voting to lose the whip.

‘They should take a look at the faces of colleagues behind them, colleagues who have fracking sites in their constituencies, and they should hang their heads in shame.

‘A Conservative government will always have my confidence, but its leadership today has severely tested my trust and the trust of many colleagues and I would advise them not to do so again.’

Fellow MP William Wragg has said he has ‘lodged’ a letter of no confidence in the Prime Minister with Sir Graham Brady.

The vice-chairman of the 1922 committee of backbench MPs said he would like to vote with Labour on the fracking motion, but he is not going to as he would lose the whip.

He told MPs: ‘If I vote as I would wish, then I would lose the whip.

‘I would no longer be vice chair of the 1922 committee. I would no longer maintain a position as a chair of one of the select committees of the House. 

And indeed, because of that, my letter lodged with my honourable friend, the member for Altrincham and Sale West, would fall, and I wish to maintain that letter with my honourable friend.’

Labour sources said the Tories had walked into their trap and are preparing online adverts to target every MP who backs giving the controversial shale gas extraction the go ahead.

If passed, the opposition day debate motion would guarantee Commons time for a Bill banning fracking once and for all.

Mr Whittaker wrote to Tory MPs, saying: ‘This is not a motion on fracking. *This is a confidence motion in the Government.*

‘We cannot, under any circumstances, let the Labour Party take control of the order paper and put through their own legislation and whatever other bits of legislation they desire.

‘We are voting NO and I reiterate, this is a hard 3 line whip with all slips withdrawn.’

The Government amendment supporting giving fracking the go-ahead in areas where local consent is deemed to have been given was also made a three-line whip.

‘I know this is difficult for some colleagues, but we simply cannot allow this,’ Mr Whittaker wrote.

Mark Menzies, Tory MP for Fylde in Lancashire, where fracking could take place, demanded guarantees communities will be given the ‘final say’.

He asked Ms Truss to ‘assure me that local consent will be measured independently and transparently’ with no direct involvement for fracking companies in assessing whether there is community support.

The Prime Minister told him: ‘We will consult on a robust system of local consent, give clear advice on seismic limits and safety before any fracking takes place.’

The consultation will consider ‘all of the relevant people – the regional mayors, the local authorities and parishes as well as the concerns of those directly affected’.

Tory MP Steve Double, who represents the Cornwall constituency of St Austell and Newquay, argued Labour has ‘overplayed their hand on this occasion’.

‘Whatever your views for or against fracking, Conservative MPs shouldn’t be voting to allow the Labour Party to take over the order paper,’ he told BBC News.

But shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire said: ‘The consequence of making this a confidence vote is that if the Government loses the motion on fracking, the Prime Minister will resign and the government will fall.

‘The Tories must urgently confirm this is the case.’

The Prime Minister’s lifting of a fracking ban imposed in 2019 over earthquake concerns breaks a Tory manifesto pledge not to end the moratorium without science ‘categorically’ showing it is safe.

Against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, Ms Truss has argued that the move is needed to end energy dependence on Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

But Tory MPs in areas where fracking could occur have reacted angrily, and fear the go-ahead could make their re-election even harder amid dire polling for the party.

The moratorium was imposed on fracking, which uses high-pressure liquid to release gas from shale formations, after a series of earthquakes at the UK’s only shale wells at Preston New Road, Lancashire, in 2019.

There are potential shale reserves across northern England, but fracking firms could also seek to drill in southern areas where gas might be found.