Ministers' meetings with nuclear lobby raise concerns of favouritism

Thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money have been spent on special meetings between ministers and the nuclear industry in Britain, prompting allegations the government is giving the sector an unfair advantage over renewable energy.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) has paid more than £8,000 this year for meetings outside government offices with the Nuclear Development Forum – set up to "secure the long-term future of nuclear power generation in the UK", and help make Britain "the best market in the world for companies to invest in nuclear power".

Two of those three external meetings with leading energy and engineering companies were attended by the secretaries of state at the time, Labour's Ed Miliband in March, and Chris Huhne in July, and the third meeting in October by the minister of state, Charles Hendry. Further meetings at the department's headquarters in Whitehall Place took place, for which costs were not provided.

Concern about the preferential treatment given to the nuclear industry by successive governments is likely to be heightened by the decision last month to abolish the parallel Renewables Advisory Board, which met every quarter at the department and once a year outside, as part of spending cuts. The work of the renewables board will be taken on by the Office for Renewable Energy Deployment, for which there is a parallel Office for Nuclear Development.

The developments are likely to fuel concerns among the many environmental campaigners who oppose nuclear power that the industry has unfair access to the government, as well as benefiting from hidden subsidies.

Ministers' meetings with nuclear lobby raise concerns of favouritism | Environment | The Guardian