Taxpayers must not subsidise nuclear power

The Government has given the go-ahead to a new generation of nuclear power stations, which is a flawed decision based on a sham consultation - we all know that ministers made up their minds long ago.

The Government has effectively locked us into nuclear power for the best part of a century. By the time they are up and running in the 2020s nuclear power plants may be obsolete given the breathtaking progress in renewable technologies.

The Labour Government Minister, John Hutton MP, was not able to give a cast iron guarantee that taxpayers will not have to subsidise the costs of nuclear in the future. The Government had nothing to say about today's pressing issue - spiralling fuel prices. The new Energy Bill must include measures to protect the millions of households who are struggling to meet their winter fuel bills.

The UK has an energy crisis now - nuclear power cannot fill the energy gap. Energy conservation and investment in renewables should be our top priorities.

To find our more visit our party website. If you would like to take further action to help, you can encourage people you know to sign the petition .

Say No 2 Nuclear Power

I am writing to update you on the Liberal Democrats campaign against the new generation of nuclear power stations, as the Government intends.

We passed a small milestone in the new year with the closure of the world’s two oldest nuclear power plants - Dungeness A in Kent and Sizewell A in Suffolk. They graphically show the hidden costs of generating power from nuclear, and why it is that not a single private company has been prepared to invest in nuclear plant anywhere in the world since Chernobyl without lashings of government subsidy.

The costs of decommissioning of Dungeness alone are estimated at more than £1.5 billion, with more than £70 billion for nuclear waste and decommissioning in the UK as a whole.

Sometimes people argue that we need new nuclear plants because otherwise we will become too reliant on gas, but the sorry truth is that it is too late.

Given the lead times on any new technology or nuclear plants, we are going to become more reliant on gas.

The key question is what we then do to cut our over-reliance on it: energy-saving and renewables can kick in with practical contributions to cutting our carbon emissions by at least 60 per cent by 2050.

The Lib Dems are bringing forward new proposals shortly to save energy from our homes, and our green tax switch campaign has shown how we can cut carbon emissions from planes and gas-guzzling cars.

This year we intend to go on mapping out a non-nuclear future with practical, costed plans to make our society sustainable.

Sign our petition hereNo2nuclear.