Political Agenda – Nuclear to benefit from new sector deals

In Whitehall, when they talk about the grid, they’re not talking about pylons. Rather, they will be referring to the tightly drawn schedule of announcements with which governments seek to manage the media.

The grid this Monday would have had one item on it – the government’s industrial strategy. One of the more eye-catching bits of that package was the designation of nuclear power as one of just five industries that will benefit from new sector deals.

But it was nuclear submarines, not power plants, that preoccupied attention as the government’s carefully laid plans were blown off course by The Sunday Times scoop about a failed Trident missile test.

It’s a shame. The cerebral BEIS secretary of state Greg Clark has stitched together a package that looks like a genuine attempt to maintain the government’s legal commitments to a greener future while keeping a lid on businesses’ energy costs.

Onshore wind is ignored, testament to the sway that the countryside lobby still exercises in the party. And environmentalists will be on guard in case BEIS’ probe into the cost of decarbonisation is a Trojan Horse for fresh efforts to further cut back clean power subsidies.

But, in a week when the White House has been occupied by a climate change denier, the continued commitment to tackling climate change will raise a cheer in environmental circles.

The government has copped flak for wanting to have its cake and eat it over Brexit. Clark’s job is to show that such a feat is possible, in energy policy at least.