A SECRET plan to accelerate controversial fracking plans was exposed yesterday — and top Tory fingerprints are all over it.

A leaked letter shows Chancellor George Osborne wrote to Cabinet colleagues telling them to “make it a personal priority” to boost the extraction of shale gas.

The document was obtained by a Friends of the Earth campaigner as MPs prepared to debate anti-fracking amendments to the Infrastructure Bill.

A key committee of MPs has called for an immediate moratorium on fracking, citing concerns over sustainability, safety and pollution.

But Mr Osborne said his colleagues should pull out all the stops to develop “exemplar drilling sites” to prove fracking could be safe.

The plot was hatched as a contingency plan in case Lancashire City Council rules out two landmark extraction bids this week.

Shale company Cuadrilla wants to start fracking on two sites between Blackpool and Preston but last week asked for the decision to be delayed pending the examination of “additional information” it had submitted to planning hearings after officers recommended the proposals be rejected.

Mr Osborne’s letter revealed he wants fellow ministers to “respond to the asks from Cuadrilla” to reduce risks and delays to drilling the first well and to fast-track planning appeals should the applications for shale exploration in Lancashire be refused.

Friends of the Earth campaigner Tony Bosworth, who obtained the leaked letter, said: “This letter shows government and industry working hand-in-glove to try anything to make fracking happen.

“Councillors in Lancashire will be shocked that the government is plotting with Cuadrilla to make sure that they can frack in Lancashire even if their applications are rejected this week.”

A rally of environmental campaigners outside Parliament was addressed by celebrity campaigner Bianca Jagger and Green MP Caroline Lucas.

Inside, flustered environment minister Amber Rudd came under fire for offering inadequate safeguards for residents and the environment.

Labour MP Alan Whitehead slammed Ms Rudd for allowing “untrammelled access to developers” on fracking sites.

And Ms Lucas slammed ministers for cloaking their own research on fracking in a veil of secrecy.

“How on Earth does the government expect the public to have any confidence in its policy on fracking when they refuse to put it in the public domain?” she asked.

The Commons voted down a Labour proposal requiring specific Environment Agency permits for extractions by 320 votes to 224 but the government accepted a Labour amendment calling for 13 new conditions to be met before approval.