Linear tearing instability is studied in the banana collisionality regime in tokamak geometry. Neoclassical effects produce significant modifications of Ohm’s law and the vorticity equation, so that the growth rate of tearing modes driven by &Dgr;’is dramatically reduced compared to the usual resistive magnetohydrodynamic values. Consequences of this result, regarding the presence of pressure‐gradient‐driven neoclassical resistive interchange instabilities and the evolution of magnetic islands in the Rutherford regime, are discussed.