Green groups withdraw from nuclear consultation 'stitch up'

1.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 10th Sep 2007

Britain's leading environmental groups have today pulled out of the consultation on whether the government should build a new generation of nuclear power stations. The coalition, which includes Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, WWF and Green Alliance, claim the government is distorting the evidence and say they are considering whether to take the case to court again. The group accused the government of "conducting a public relations stitch-up designed to deliver a preordained policy on new nuclear power" and "rushing" a consultation process that its advisers say should take at least nine months.

Sir Ming Campbell said "I completely understand why the green groups have withdrawn from this deeply flawed consultation. The government has failed to observe the spirit of the High Court ruling, by making up its mind on nuclear power long before this latest consultation had even begun. Ministers have failed to bring forward any new evidence that the waste issue has been dealt with, nor have they explained how new power stations would be financed without spending billions of pounds of taxpayers' money."