Paul Flynn
Main Page: Paul Flynn (Labour - Newport West)Department Debates - View all Paul Flynn's debates with the Leader of the House
(13 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberThe Government are grateful to Will Hutton for his recently published report, and we will respond in due course. There will be an opportunity in the Budget debate to discuss differentials between low, medium and top pay, and approaches to reducing them.
The decision to build new nuclear power stations was greatly influenced by the belief that there would be a shortfall in generating capacity within a decade. That shortfall will now not take place because of the extended life of many of our power stations. Would it not be right to extend debate on the Government’s very welcome decision to look at the safety of nuclear power stations to their very high cost and their impractical, unrealistic timetables?
The hon. Gentleman raises a crucial point. He will know that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has asked Dr Weightman to conduct a review in the light of the problems in Japan. The details of his report will be established shortly, but the review will be conducted in close co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency and other international regulators to establish carefully what lessons can be learned. The reports will be put in the public domain and may well form the basis for a debate in due course.