FRACKING at the only active site in Britain has been halted after it was rocked by its largest earthquake on record.

Shale gas extraction at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road site in Lancashire was hit by a tremor measuring 1.6 magnitude on the Richter scale, according to the British Geological Survey.

A Cuadrilla spokesman downplayed the incident, which occurred on Wednesday evening “after we had completed the hydraulic fracturing programme for the day.”

He claimed: “Most local people will not have felt it due to its small size.  

“The equivalent ground motion would be similar to a large bag of shopping dropping to the floor.”

All operations were paused to allow for 18 hours of monitoring. 

The controversial project has seen long-running protests from local people, who were joined last month by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

On Thursday his Labour’s shadow energy secretary Rebecca Long Bailey MP urged people to vote Labour to stop fracking.

“For residents of Lancashire that do not want earthquakes to become a part of daily life, and do not want the air pollution, water pollution and climate change caused by fracking, I have a simple message: vote Labour. Labour will ban fracking,” she said.

Green MEP for the North West Gina Dowding was also highly critical. 

“It is simply astounding that Cuadrilla feel they are able to pass off the very real concerns of residents, regarding the seismic events that are being caused by fracking, comparing tremors to like ‘dropping bags of shopping’ or the equivalent of a glass of milk shaking on a table.

“These are both responses that Cuadrilla deem to be suitable as ‘reassurance’ to residents and the communities around their Preston New Road site.”
 
She warned: “The fracking industry is heavily lobbying the government to shift the seismic traffic light system so that they would be able to cause larger tremors.
 
“This is not in the interests of the community and the government should strongly refuse this request, and not renege on their previous promise to maintain the current regulatory standards.”

Cuadrilla describes its project as “the most regulated and monitored site in Europe.”

A BEIS spokesperson said:  “These are very minor seismic events – thousands of which occur unnoticed in the UK every year – and are highly unlikely to be felt at the surface.  

 “These pauses in hydraulic fracturing allow regulators to carry out comprehensive safety checks. Our world leading regulations are the result of decades of UK expertise in oil and gas exploration, and are ensuring operations continue in a safe and environmentally responsible way.”