DBERR

Business secretary John Hutton's plans to see a new coal-fired power station under construction this summer suffered a significant setback after E.ON, the company behind the proposed plant at Kingsnorth in Kent, asked him to delay the decision on whether the plant should be built.

Until now Hutton's Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Dberr) and E.ON had both been pushing for a decision to be made by 'end May 2008 at latest'. According to documents obtained by Greenpeace under the FoI Act, E.ON's plans were so advanced that contractors had already been secured to commence building work 'from summer 2008 on current tenders'.

Energy minister John Hutton has been caught trying to sabotage the EU renewable energy targets again. A minister from Hutton's department has been working in Brussels to try and redefine what constitutes 'renewable energy.' After last year's fiasco when Hutton’s department were seen trying to wreck EU renewable targets altogether, now the business minister Lady Vadera has been filmed trying to water them down at an EU energy council meeting.

Ever since the government started ranting about the joy of new nuclear power stations, a central plank of their shaky argument has been that the billions required will be covered by industry and not the taxpayer. But despite these bold claims, legislation and loopholes have been carefully engineered so that public money will inevitably subsidise the industry. Hardly surprising, given there hasn't been a single civil nuclear project that hasn't required huge sums of public dosh.