{"id":17011,"date":"2019-01-17T14:07:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-17T14:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=17011"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:57:47","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:57:47","slug":"energy-policy-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=17011","title":{"rendered":"Energy policy lights out"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Unite has said Hitachi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s announcement today (17 January) that work is being suspended <\/span>on a \u00c2\u0141<\/span>20bn<\/span> nuclear power station is proof the \u00e2\u20ac\u015blights are going out on a coherent UK energy policy\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hitachi said it was suspending work on the Wylfa <\/span>Newydd<\/span> plant in Anglesey, north <\/span>Wales<\/span>, <\/span>because of <\/span>rocketing<\/span> construction costs.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Around 9,000 <\/span>jobs will be at risk if the<\/span> power<\/span> station\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s construction<\/span> is she<\/span>lved permanently. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The Japanese company has been in talks with the government since June over <\/span>costings for the<\/span> nuclear<\/span><\/a> plant, which is supposed to be completed by the middle of next decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Having failed to reach an agreement with the government, Hitachi said building the project on the current terms would <\/span>leave the firm with \u00e2\u20ac\u015bextraordinary losses\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of \u00c2\u0141<\/span>2.1bn<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The decision to suspend construction <\/span>was made \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfrom the viewpoint of its economic rationality as a private enterprise\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span>, the firm added.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Work on another Hitachi site, in Oldbury, Gloucestershire, has also been suspended \u00e2\u20ac\u015buntil a solution can be found\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sorry<\/i><\/b> saga<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Unite said th<\/span>e<\/span> announcement was <\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u015b<\/span>the latest chapter in the sorry saga of recent UK <\/span>energy<\/span><\/a> policy<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015b<\/span>The decision taken today by Hitachi is a disaster for the UK economy and future energy needs of the country. This government should be held to account as it has no coherent policy and has, yet again, let the country down. The lights are going out when it comes to energy policy<\/span>,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said <\/span>Unite national officer for energy Peter McIntosh<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere are very real concerns over how we will keep the lights on for industry and consumers in the coming decades.<\/span> Without Wylfa being <\/span>built, there is no way the country can meet its climate change obligations which it committed to when it signed up to the Paris Agreement in 2016.<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On top of the <\/span>W<\/span>yfla<\/span> decision, there<\/span> are a<\/span> number of factors that are leading to a crisis over how the energy needs of businesses and households will be met in the decades ahead<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These include t<\/span>he withdrawal of <\/span>Toshiba<\/span><\/a> from the Moorside nuclear power station project in Cumbria in November<\/span> and t<\/span>he controversy over the financing of the <\/span>Hinkley Point<\/span><\/a> nuclear in Somerset being built by French company EDF, with a stake from Chinese state-owned investor CGN<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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There are also s<\/span>ecurity concerns over future Chinese involvement in the UK nuclear programme<\/span> as well as worries<\/span> o<\/span>ver<\/span> the<\/span> reluctance of<\/span>the<\/span> Tor<\/span>ies<\/span> to commit to large-scale funding of<\/span> essential<\/span> infrastructure projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

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McIntosh said<\/span>,<\/span> \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBusiness secretary Greg Clark needs to step up to the plate and recalibrate energy policy with a vigorous commitment to substantial government funding for large-scale energy infrastructure projects.<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Devastating<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Unite Wales regional secretary Peter Hughes<\/span> said the news was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdevastating\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 for the Welsh economy<\/span> and<\/span> particular<\/span>ly<\/span> for north west <\/span>Wales<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe future regeneration on the region has been based upon the bedrock that Wylfa <\/span>Newydd<\/span> would proceed.<\/span> For that to now be suspended is a hammer blow to the future prospects of some of most economically deprived communities in the whole of Wales<\/span>,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Hughes said. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAlthough this decision has ultimately been made by Hitachi, the UK government must take a massive share of the blame. It has failed miserably to put its full weight behind this bid and to effectively advocate the case for Wylfa <\/span>Newydd<\/span>.<\/span>\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hughes added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015b<\/span>For the prime minister Theresa May to fail to raise Wylfa <\/span>Newydd<\/span> with the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe last week was shameful.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe UK government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s complete obsession with its disastrous Brexit strategy has meant it has completely took its eye off the ball in getting this crucial infrastruc<\/span><\/a>ture project over the line.<\/span> Theresa May\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s government is failing Wales at every turn.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hitachi suspends work on \u00c2\u014120bn Wylfa nuclear power station<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15851,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[54,127,53],"wps_subtitle":"Hitachi suspends work on \u00c2\u014120bn Wylfa nuclear power station","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17011"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17011"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25623,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17011\/revisions\/25623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}