Largs & Millport Weekly News | News | Letters to the Editor

Monday, 13th October, 2008

Published: Monday, 7th January, 2008 12:30

Letters to the Editor

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"SNP government failing the nuclear test"

Sir,

The myopia of our nationalist Government in rejecting nuclear new build knows no bounds. It is matched only by their hypocrisy in ‘welcoming ‘ last year’s news that the life of Hunterston nuclear power station was to be extended giving security of employment in the medium term to over 700 employees and ensuring the continued investment of £26m per annum into the North Ayrshire economy – not to mention securing a carbon free source of affordable electricity for a further five years for the nation as a whole.

Now they revert to their well worn rhetoric that Scotland ‘neither needs nor wants new nuclear power stations’. On both fronts they are completely wrong. Scotland needs nuclear power if we are to have any hope of keeping CO2 emissions static far less meeting the nationalists’ own target of reducing them by 3% year on year.

If electricity output from nuclear power stations has decreased by one quarter last year as claimed then that is bad news for our environment and will be reflected in increased CO2 emissions over the same period when the statistics are published later this year. Is this going to be the nationalist contribution to the fight to combat global warming?

They claim that fossil fuels and renewables can plug the gap but are they alone in Government in failing to understand that to rule out new nuclear will not only lead to us burning more fossil fuels but also to an escalation in the cost of electricity for Scottish consumers? Are they content to see fuel prices and the numbers of the fuel poor inexorably increase?

Misrepresenting the choice as between nuclear and renewables and replacing base load nuclear generation with intermittent renewable capacity will threaten Scotland’s status as a net exporter of energy and, perversely, for a nationalist government make us increasingly dependent on our southern neighbours and imported gas to keep the lights on. As the last BBC poll aptly demonstrated, when faced with the real choice of new nuclear build or dependence on foreign gas, Scots like other UK residents support nuclear as part of a balanced portfolio of other energy sources – including an increasing proportion of renewable output.

Anti-nuclear rhetoric is no substitute in Government for a sustainable energy policy that guarantees security of supply, contributes to a reduction in global CO2 emissions and produces electricity at prices that are both affordable and competitive.

Current nationalist energy ‘policy’ (or the absence of one) means that our nationalist Government fails the test on all counts.

Allan Wilson

44 Stoneyholm Road

Kilbirnie

"Katy Clark should look to SNP"

Sir,

I thought the New Year messages from our MP and MSP made an interesting contrast. In spite of the fact that her party has been in office for over a decade at Westminster, Katy Clark’s was a wish list which amounted to a plea that New Labour be a bit more like Old Labour. In contrast, Kenneth Gibson, SNP MSP, was able to point to solid achievements and his letter had a positive message.

Most of us know why people who rise to prominence in the New Labour party have joined it - you only have to look at them. Incidentally, fans, if such there be, of former Labour MP Brian Wilson might like an update on his current activities. The former Energy Minister sells windmills for the (extremely inefficient) generation of electricity with a free lecture on green issues thrown in. His other job is as chairman of a lobbying organisation whose sole function is to campaign for a third runway at Heathrow. The Spanish company which owns Heathrow finances it.

The puzzle is why Ms Clark, who seems an intelligent, decent and liberal-minded person (she has made no bones about her opposition to the war crimes being committed against the Iraqi people), should remain in what is and will continue to be a neo-fascist party. She does not even have the difficult choice of Labour supporters in England - to hold their noses and vote Lib-Dem.

The SNP represents most of what Ms Clark wants to see happening. None of these things will happen under New Labour. Come on Katy, join the future.

Gordon McNeill

6 Glen Place, Largs