Reform UK has vowed to give energy firms the green light to unlock "billions of energy treasure" through fracking if the party gets into government.
Fracking - the process of hydraulic fracturing to extract shale gas from the ground - has been banned in the UK by multiple prime ministers over fears of the environmental impact of the controversial method, including that it could cause earthquakes.
But Richard Tice, Reform UK's deputy leader and energy spokesman, has said it would be "grossly financially negligent" to fail to take advantage of opportunities fracking would present.
He said, the BBC reports: "We've got potentially hundreds of billions of energy treasure in the form of shale gas.
"It's grossly financially negligent to a criminal degree to leave that value underground and not to extract it."
Nigel Farage's party is telling energy firms to prepare to "drill, baby, drill" if it gets into government after the next general election.
Fracking is an extraction method which had been used in the UK oil and gas sector for decades until the growth in popularity of the practice in America brought it into public focus around 2010.
At that time, then-prime minister David Cameron had hoped to capitalise on a shale gas boom but those hopes were dashed by planning delays, small earthquakes, legal challenges and consistent protests.
Fracking was then banned in 2019 after tremors were recorded at a UK fracking site.
Former Conservative MP and David Cameron's energy minister at the time Charles Hendry has predicted Reform UK will find it difficult to gain public support for reintroducing fracking.
The BBC reports he said: "Even Reform voters will be up in arms about the idea."