21st December 2005

Gloucester Green party spokeperson, Bryan Meloy has written to his Gloucester Labour MP calling for energy issues to be taken seriously. He writes:

 
Dear Palmjit

Below are my comments in relation to Government Energy Policy. I ask you to look seriously at the issues it relates to and invest this countries finances sensibly in home energy conservation and building new industries founded on sustainable energy production rather than nuclear power which has failed to live up to its promise of cheap, unlimited clean energy supply.

 
Yours sincerely, Bryan Meloy

If money invested in bailing out the nuclear industry over the last few years had instead been invested in energy efficiency/conservation and microgeneration we would be on the road to achieving our international obligations under kyoto, and Tony Blair would not have been announcing that it is down to individuals as his Government has failed.
We would also have created a great many jobs in building and installing solar panels, windmills, etc.

Further to this, with proper investment this country could be at the forefront of developments in these renewable sources of energy. Instead this Government has chosen to support the interests of existing big business as well as making plutonium for the Trident 2 missiles Mr Blair has already decided to commission: Plutonium from nuclear power stations is the only element likely to be produced in the UK with the rest purchased at vast and wasteful expense from the American Government. This one policy shows how morally dead is the Labour Party at this pointin history.

Our Government is refusing to acknowledge how much remains to be spent on existing nuclear powerstation decomissioning and processing and storage of nuclear waste and include this in figures for Co2 output and cost of unit energy production. There is also a limited supply of uranium ore available and this form of power generation will become depleted over a few decades at current consumption rates.

 
In the meantime, countries which aren't part of the nuclear club will invest in and develop their renewable energy production, which in the long run will put us at a great economic disadvantage. This short term thinking in terms of nuclear power and weaponry will therefore ultimately lead this country into further economic decline on top of betraying the principals for which Labour used to stand, and our obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This brings shame on our country in the same way as the Iraq invasion has.

See Gloucestershire Green party debate on nuclear