Rishi Sunak has reintroduced the moratorium on fracking in England, Downing Street has confirmed.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman confirmed the move after Mr Sunak was pressed on the issue at his first Prime Minister’s Questions.

The PM told the Commons he “stands by” the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto and insisted his Government will deliver on what was agreed upon at the UN Cop26 Glasgow climate talks.

Conservative former prime minister Liz Truss had lifted the ban, as she argued it would strengthen the country’s energy supply.

A Labour motion to 'ban' fracking caused carnage for Ms Truss as MPs were ordered to vote it down.

Despite standing in the 'no' lobby on the day, Winchester and Chandler's Ford MP Steve Brine said fracking for shale gas 'does not enjoy his support' and labelled the motion as "silly partisan politics".

In any case, Mr Brine said he wouldn't have supported any play to lift the moratorium as he too believed in honouring the manifesto.

He said: “The Conservative Environment Network, of which I am a member, made it clear the moratorium could not be lifted without the express permission of Parliament and subsequently asked Rishi Sunak to simply uphold the ban as we said in our 2019 manifesto.

“As expected, the new Prime Minister listened and acted on his first full day in office. I realise this has dented a well-prepared campaign for some but once again our voice has been heard where it counts at the very heart of Government.”

Hampshire faced at least nine new fracking sites.

The total size of areas covered by a licence equated to a staggering 34,868 football pitches. 

Winchester was the worst affected area in the county with five sites permitted for drilling, covering more than one-quarter of the constituency.

Rishi SunakRishi Sunak faced his first PMQs just 24 hours after taking on the top job (House of Commons/PA)

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas said in the Commons: “Yesterday, he (Rishi Sunak) promised to fix her (Liz Truss's) mistakes as well as to uphold the party’s 2019 manifesto.

“So, if he is a man of his word, will he start by reversing the green light she gave to fracking since it’s categorically not been shown to be safe, and instead maintain the moratorium that was pledged in that very manifesto that he promised to uphold?”

The Prime Minister replied: “I have already said I stand by the manifesto on that. But what I would say is that I’m proud that this Government has passed the landmark Environment Act, putting more protections for the natural environment than we have ever had with a clear plan to deliver.

“And I can give the honourable lady my commitment that we will deliver on all those ambitions. We will deliver on what we said at Cop (Cop26) because we care deeply about passing our children an environment in a better state than we found it ourselves.”

Campaign group Friends of the Earth previously put together an interactive map showing the areas of England which were covered by onshore oil and gas licences. 

Many of the licenced areas overlapped with potential areas of fracking for shale gas, identified by the British Geological Survey.