Tory adviser says nuclear power should be last resort


Matthew Tempest, political correspondent
Wednesday January 18, 2006

David Cameron's environmental policy adviser has warned the Conservative party against an unthinking embrace of nuclear power, as the government appears set to commission a new generation of reactors.

Zac Goldsmith, the editor of the Ecologist and deputy chair of the Tory leader's new green policy review group, warned that there was "general support" for nuclear power among grassroots members, but it could only ever be the option of last resort.

The potentially explosive issue is looming fast, as the government's new energy review reports back this summer - a year ahead of Mr Goldsmith's own 18-month policy review of Tory thinking on the environment, energy, housing and transport issues.

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Tory adviser says nuclear power should be last resort

Matthew Tempest, political correspondent
Wednesday January 18, 2006

David Cameron's environmental policy adviser has warned the Conservative party against an unthinking embrace of nuclear power, as the government appears set to commission a new generation of reactors.

Zac Goldsmith, the editor of the Ecologist and deputy chair of the Tory leader's new green policy review group, warned that there was "general support" for nuclear power among grassroots members, but it could only ever be the option of last resort.

The potentially explosive issue is looming fast, as the government's new energy review reports back this summer - a year ahead of Mr Goldsmith's own 18-month policy review of Tory thinking on the environment, energy, housing and transport issues.

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Mr Cameron has already hinted he may back the likely greenlighting of nuclear in the energy review, saying he is "open minded" about the issue, and didn't have a "blanket view against nuclear power".

He told Andrew Marr's Sunday AM show last weekend: "It may well be that in order to have a continued growing economy and energy security, it may well be that we have to build new nuclear power stations. I have an open mind on that; I will look at the evidence."

But speaking to Guardian Unlimited yesterday, Mr Goldsmith said: "The truth is that if there was a poll of the party, there'd be general support for nuclear power.

"[But] the only sensible position is a 'No, but possibly...' We need a radical programme of energy conservation. That can be the only position - that nuclear is only possible if we fail to exploit the alternatives.

"That's my position, but we've got to have a debate within the party."

He also hinted that the environmental "quality of life" 18-month policy review he is heading up - one of six overhauls of party policy Mr Cameron has commissioned - would not simply report back in one "big bang" in the summer of 2007.

He told Guardian Unlimited: "We're going to look at all these issues over the next 18 months. It would be pointless to make our minds up now and spend the next 18 months simply defending them."

But he added: "It's not just in 18 months - we will drop some [announcements] along the way. It could be very, very quickly," he hinted.

If that is replicated across all six policy areas - the economy, quality of life, public services, homeland security, social justice and globalisation/development - it could mean a flurry of new policy position far faster than Labour strategists are expecting.

Until now, the presumption was that Mr Cameron was aiming at repositioning the party's public image for the rest of this year, ahead of endorsing new policies in 18 months time, and then building up to the 2009/10 election.

Another tricky area for the quality of life policy review - which is being chaired by the former Tory environment secretary, John Gummer, will be the expansion in aviation.

The government's 2003 aviation white paper commits it to three new runways in the south east and the expansion of many regional airports over the next 30 years.

Mr Goldsmith rejected that proposal point blank. He said: "We have to manage demand, we can't simply accommodate it with 'predict and provide' - that's unsustainable."

He suggested that taxing aviation fuel - one of the longstanding demands of environmental campaigners, but explicitly ruled out by Tony Blair - could be on the Tory agenda.

He said: "It's incredibly complicated. Taxing aviation fuel is the first thing you could do, but not the only thing. There are more subtle and radical ways."