Daily Archives: 30 October 2013

Hinkley Point: nuclear power plant gamble worries economic analysts

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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/30/hinkley-point-nuclear-power-plant-uk-government-edf-underwrite

Liberum Capital analysts flabbergasted by UK government’s deal with EDF and decision to underwrite nuclear power station

Image of Hinkley PointThe government’s agreement to underwrite the Hinkley Point nuclear power station could turn out to be economically insane and hugely costly to consumers, City analysts have warned.

Analysts at Liberum Capital said the government’s deal with France’s EDF will make Hinkley Point the most expensive power station in the world with the longest construction period in the world.

The government gave the go-ahead last week for EDF to build the Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset. Its two reactors will cost £8bn each and will provide power for about 60 years once it starts operating in 2023.

The energy secretary, Ed Davey, has made a huge bet that fossil fuel prices will rocket by the time Hinkley Point starts operating in [2023], Liberum’s Peter Atherton and Mulu Sun said in a report published on Wednesday.

They said: “The UK government is taking a massive bet that fossil fuel prices will be extremely high in the future. If that bet proves to be wrong then this contract will look economically insane when HPC commissions. We are frankly staggered that the UK government thinks it is appropriate to take such a bet and underwrite the economics of any power station that costs £5m per MW and takes nine years to build.”

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Single parents ‘biggest losers’ from IDS’ welfare reforms

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http://www.politics.co.uk/news/2013/10/30/single-parents-biggest-losers-from-ids-welfare-reforms

Iain Duncan Smith’s flagship universal credit reforms will make life for working single parents harder rather than easier, according to a report out today.

The Gingerbread charity suggested there would be very little financial incentive for those in or out of work to take on anything more than ‘mini-jobs’.

Its findings are a setback to the Department for Work and Pensions, which is aiming to simplify a raft of existing benefits and roll them into the single universal credit in a bid to make the shift to employment a financially attractive one.

“The simple fact is that universal credit won’t deliver on its promise to make work pay,” Gingerbread chief executive Fiona Weird said.

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David Cameron urged not to water down the freedom of information act

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http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2013/oct/30/freedomofinformation-davidcameron

Seventy-six organisations have written to the prime minister urging him to drop proposals to restrict the freedom of information (FoI) act.

Various campaign groups, charities and press bodies have signed the letter to David Cameron, arguing against the watering down of the act.

They say the proposals are not compatible with Cameron’s stated aim of making Britain “the most open and transparent government in the world”.

The sending of the letter has been timed to coincide with an international summit on open government, hosted by the British government in London tomorrow.

The event will be attended by representatives from more than 60 countries. Each government – including the UK – is expected to announce new commitments towards greater openness, drawn up in partnership with non-governmental organisations from their own countries.

It was in November last year that the government announced that it was considering a series of proposals to make it easier for public authorities to refuse FoI requests on cost grounds. Those proposals are still under consideration.

The government says the changes are intended to address the “disproportionate burdens” caused by those people or bodies who are said who make “industrial use” of the FoI act.

But the 76 organisations say “the proposals would restrict access by all users, including those making occasional requests of modest scope.”

FoI requests can already be refused if the cost of finding the requested information exceeds certain limits. The government says it is considering reducing these limits, which would lead to many more requests being refused.

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