Date published: 2006/06/10
The BBC says:
Chancellor Gordon Brown has given a clear signal that he supports the building of new nuclear power stations.
In an article in the Times, he said the government was set to demonstrate its flexibility in key policy areas such as energy - "including new nuclear".
The government's energy review is due by the end of July but Tony Blair has already said he favours new plants.
The anti-nuclear lobby and some Labour MPs had hoped the expected next party leader would take a different view.
The UK generates about 20% of its electricity from nuclear power.
...
For the Tories, meanwhile, shadow trade and industry secretary Alan Duncan has said he opposes subsidies or price guarantees for nuclear firms.The comments appear to make cross-party consensus on building a new generation of nuclear power plants unlikely.
The Liberal Democrats have already voiced their opposition to new stations.
Well that's one for the books. Everybody knew that Blair was now pro-nuclear, but that was irrelevant since he's (allegedly) departing office "real soon now". So what really matters on this score is what Brown thinks, and this is the first indication that he might opt for nuclear as one part of the energy mix. Of course the other parties (seemingly) oppose this so if Labour loses the next election (a distinct possibility) then nuclear could be shelved.
_________________________________________________________
All material not included from other sources is copyright cambridge2000.com.
For further information or questions email: info [at] cambridge2000 [dot] com
(replace "[at]" with "@" and "[dot]" with ".").