Nuclear Power
I see that the new P.M. has been making a whole series of policy statements, most of which are recapitulations of things that the Labour government has been saying for ten years.
The tone of his answer to Jamie Reed at Prime Minister's Questions on the subject of Nuclear Power has been interpreted in some quarters as indicating that Brown is less committed to Nuclear Power than Blair was. Certainly, considering that he was replying to a "question" in which Jamie Reed had thanked him for his "unequivocal support of the industry," I would not use the word "unequivocal" to describe Brown's response.
I hope those who infer from this that Brown is less committed to nuclear power are wrong, because I am convinced that the country will not meet our carbon targets without a new generation of nuclear plants forming part of a balanced energy strategy.
However, there is another possible explanation for the guarded tone of the P.M.s remarks. It is quite possible that he does not want to give the Anti-Nuclear lobby more opportunities to hit the government with a judicial review based on the claim that the government are pre-judging the decision-making process.
The tone of his answer to Jamie Reed at Prime Minister's Questions on the subject of Nuclear Power has been interpreted in some quarters as indicating that Brown is less committed to Nuclear Power than Blair was. Certainly, considering that he was replying to a "question" in which Jamie Reed had thanked him for his "unequivocal support of the industry," I would not use the word "unequivocal" to describe Brown's response.
I hope those who infer from this that Brown is less committed to nuclear power are wrong, because I am convinced that the country will not meet our carbon targets without a new generation of nuclear plants forming part of a balanced energy strategy.
However, there is another possible explanation for the guarded tone of the P.M.s remarks. It is quite possible that he does not want to give the Anti-Nuclear lobby more opportunities to hit the government with a judicial review based on the claim that the government are pre-judging the decision-making process.
Comments
Brown has backed nuclear power on several occasions
Given that he was responding to a Labour MP with a lot of jobs in his constituency dependent on nuclear power, who had just specifically welcomed his "unequivocal" support for the industry, Brown's answer struck some observers as less wholehearted than they were expecting. For example, on a TV panel discussion immediately after PMQs, Paddy Ashdown interpreted the tone of Brown's reply as suggesting that he is less committed to new nuclear build than Blair.
However, Liberal Democrats are noted for wishful thinking, and if you read my original post properly you will see that I was careful not assume that this interpretation was necessarily correct - and I gave another possible explanation for the nature of Brown's reply.