In case you were wondering, there is no 3-line Labour vote in the Commons this week. It’s true that on two of these days there are four debates organised by the elected Back-Bench Business Committee, though all of them concern important and worthwhile issues. But today (Tuesday) there is a highly contentious debate on an extremely toxic issue, namely immigration.
But this Immigration Bill introduced by the Home Secretary will not be challenged by Labour, at least not by a vote at second reading. Previously when a very difficult and equivocal issue arose Labour might not vote against, but would present a reasoned amendment at second reading to indicate, if not outright opposition, nevertheless deep reservations about certain aspects of the Bill with which the party fundamentally disagreed. Continue reading
Hitherto the future of nuclear in Britain has hinged around whether the French nuclear behemoth, EDF (Electricite de France), can find a partner to help bear the cost of new nuclear plants – currently some £14bn apiece. And, not entirely unrelated, whether EDF can squeeze the British government where it hurts into agreeing a ‘strike price’ at nearly twice the current costs of electricity generation, using the blackmail that if the government does not agree, EDF will walk away and there will be no nuclear generator left willing to step into the breach.
The government is shortly set to announce its decision to go ahead with building a second Sellafield MOX plant (SMP) at a cost of £3bn. MOX is a mixed uranium-plutonium oxide used as a nuclear reactor fuel.
The nuclear industry and its cheerleader DECC will be pleased at today’s announcement that China has re-started its nuclear programme after an 18 month hiatus following Fukushima. The Chinese government have made clear they remain very concerned about the safety issue, as well they should be – Fukushima came very close to making Tokyo uninhabitable for decades to come – but once again industry lobbies have prevailed over sober analysis and common sense. 
How about this for ‘the greenest government ever’?: