Heysham nuclear power station, near Morecambe, Lancashire, England. Photograph: www.corbis.com/PaulThompson; Eco
By offering the nuclear industry a 40-year subsidy (Ministers offer nuclear reactor deal until 2050, 19 February), the coalition is backtracking on its 2010 promise not to make the public pay for new nuclear, and tying us into decades of increasingly expensive, risky power.
Even if the nuclear industry delivers on time, new reactors won't be ready until the 2020s, and could end up costing consumers tens of billions of pounds. Meanwhile, the government's dash for gas is driving up our fuel bills, and giving new gas plants a free pass to pollute by allowing them to pump out climate-changing carbon till 2045.
It's outrageous that nuclear and gas should be given such lengthy guarantees when renewable energy faces a funding cliff-edge after 2020. Britain has abundant wind and marine energy resources, and should be a world leader in developing and exporting expertise. MPs must act decisively where the government hasn't, and back a 2030 clean power target in the energy bill that will tackle climate change, create green jobs and provide energy we can all afford.
Andrew Pendleton
Head of campaigns, Friends of the Earth
• The £240bn pledged in subsidies for new nuclear power stations in Britain would give £10,000 to each home in Britain so they could all install solar hot water, solar electric systems, controls and new boilers, where necessary with insulation and draught-stripping, and help take every home in Britain out of fuel poverty.
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