Former arch-rival Scottish Tory and Labour MPs have attack delays to the UK government’s plan to commission the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant.
Michael (now Lord) Forsyth criticised the plans for the £18 billion project in an Economic Affairs debate in the House of Lords on the UK energy market, warning the delayed project was a “severe risk” to security of supply.
Former Tory MP Forsyth said the report amounted to a “big red warning light” for ministers, and former Labour MP Alistair (now Lord) Darling said he agreed with almost everything the former minister had said.
Darling said there was a big question mark over the future of nuclear power and challenged ministers to set out a “plan B” should Hinkley C not go ahead.
Energy security was the “number one priority” but the public had been “short-changed” by the Hinkley C project, which was 10 years late and facing rapidly rising costs.
Labour’s Lord Hollick also warned that the Government’s “complacent” response to criticism in the National Audit Office report over the Hinkley C project “borders on the negligent”.
The UK government has appointed a Franco-Sino consortium – led by EDF (which owns the two Scottish nuclear power stations) – to build Hinkley.
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