Commenting on the announcement that the UK government will guarantee a £2bn deal under which China will invest in the Hinkley Point nuclear power station, Green MEP for the South West Molly Scott Cato, a long-term critic of Hinkley whose constituency Hinkley would be built in, said:
“Wheeling out the Tory spin machine shows the government’s desperation. This is not new money at all. Numerous deadlines for signing this flawed deal have now been missed with French companies facing technological delays and Chinese companies facing financial difficulties.
“It is astonishing that the government will go begging the Chinese for money in the middle of a stock market crisis while neglecting our incredible renewable resources in the South West. The Navitus off-shore wind development in Dorset alone would have secured enough energy to power 700,000 homes. There is clearly an ideological pro-nuclear, anti-renewables obsession at the heart of government.
"While this government sees fit to subsidise foreign companies to support an old industry it is deliberately destroying UK companies and undermining investment opportunities for small-scale investors building the energy of the future. The Tories are snubbing British citizens who have shown their willingness to invest in community renewables and support the clean, green energy of the future with which our country, and particularly the South West, is so richly endowed."
Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, Caroline Lucas, added:
"Nuclear power is extremely expensive and slow to come online. Additionally no sustainable solution had been found to solve the serious waste problem.
"This announcement is completely perverse when the government is cutting support for cleaner, cheaper alternatives like solar and onshore wind. Instead of wasting taxpayers' money on this costly white elephant the government should urgently invest in clean, renewable alternatives that can come online far more quickly and cheaply."