Britain's Labour Party is aiming to amend the current infrastructure bill before the House of Lords in an attempt to strengthen the regulation covering fracking, the Guardian newspaper reports.
The country's Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) claims that there are satisfactory safeguards in place to secure safe drilling for shale gas under existing rules or voluntary agreements.
"Shale gas extraction must only be permitted to happen in the U.K. with robust regulation and comprehensive monitoring. Too often, David Cameron's government has ignored genuine and legitimate environmental concerns in pursuit of a rhetoric-led policy," shadow energy minister Tom Greatrex told the newspaper.
However, Greatrex admitted that shale gas might have a role to play in the future, with North Sea gas reserves declining.
Public controversy over fracking has already led to substantial protests in Britain, despite hopes that the method could release energy supplies to offset the need for imports as North Sea production continues to drop.
Last month, the British government proceeded with its plans to speed up energy exploration, including fracking for shale gas, by awarding licenses to explore onshore oil and gas.
The Decc said that a plan is already in place to secure safe shale gas extraction, which should cover all the issues raised by the Labour Party.
"The disclosure of chemical composition of frack fluids is required for an environmental permit [and this] is available for review in the public domain," it said.
British shale exploration is dominated by small firms, such as Cuadrilla Resources and IGas, but recently chemical giant Ineos acquired a 51 percent stake in an exploration license in Scotland and plans to use fracking methods to reach shale gas in the 127 square-mile area around the Falkirk-town of Grangemouth.
