energy review

It's now official. Blair wants a new generation of nuclear reactors. The energy review is over and, disappointing as it may be, the conclusion won't come as a surprise to anyone who has been following recent events. The review has been a farce from the beginning: "a rubber-stamping exercise for a decision the Prime Minister took some time ago," according to the chairman of the Trade and Industry Committee.

Remember 1997? Imagine somebody had predicted then that, within a decade, the Conservatives would be advocating "a revolution in green energy" and New Labour would be the only mainstream party still clinging to nuclear power as a central part of their energy policy. You probably wouldn't have rushed down to Ladbroke's.

Tony Blair has announced that nuclear power is now "back on the agenda with a vengeance".

Speaking at a CBI dinner last night, Blair made his strongest admission yet that the Energy Review is a smokescreen for a decision that has already been taken: to build a new generation of nuclear power stations.

Greenpeace has called on the UK government to recognise that our existing energy system is outdated, fragmented and inherently wasteful - and to start a wholesale regulatory and market reform to make decentralised energy the mainstay of the UK's energy system.