Tom Greatrex
Main Page: Tom Greatrex (Labour (Co-op) - Rutherglen and Hamilton West)
Charles Hendry
The humour arose because I inadvertently sat on the Secretary of State, which shows our commitment to work seamlessly together in this coalition! My hon. Friend makes an important point. We recognise that EDF has already committed about £90 million for a section 106 agreement, but we recognise, too, the need for greater signals for the long-term benefit of the community from those who deliver nationally important projects.
Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op)
I will endeavour not to sit accidentally on either of my Front-Bench colleagues this morning. One of the claimed community benefits of Hinkley Point is the ability to create and maintain highly skilled jobs. Will the Minister give his reaction to the comments of Citigroup in response to the reports of construction costs at Hinkley increasing by 40%, suggesting that an already very challenging programme might be reaching the point of impossibility?
Charles Hendry
The hon. Gentleman nearly did sit on his right hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Caroline Flint). He makes an important point. We are in close conversations with EDF and other potential developers of nuclear plants and we recognise that they have to be delivered in a cost-efficient way. We do not recognise the figures in the Citibank report, but we will continue to work with the company to ensure that this low-cost, large-scale, low-carbon source of generation can be part of the future energy mix.
Tom Greatrex
I am grateful to the Minister for that response. I am sure he will also be aware of the evidence that Volker Beckers, the chief executive of RWE npower, gave to the Energy and Climate Change Committee earlier this week. He explained that the company was pulling out of the Horizon joint venture because continuing
“would have meant a downgrading and we could not afford to do that”.
Given the report from Moody’s suggesting that if EDF were to continue with Hinkley and, indeed, Sizewell, it would be at risk of having its credit rating downgraded, how concerned is the Minister about the prospects for nuclear new build in the UK?
Charles Hendry
The hon. Gentleman provides a partial quote, in that Volker Beckers also said that this was a result of German Government policy and of the constrained balance sheets that resulted from the nuclear levy in Germany, and that RWE is selling off £7 billion-worth of assets worldwide, making a further €2 billion-worth of cost reductions elsewhere. Essentially, this is part of a global restructuring of the company. We continue to believe that the measures we are putting in place through market reform—more detail will be published very shortly—will create the right environment for investment in our low-carbon infrastructure for the future, which is so critical for our energy security.