Anti-nuclear campaigners have called on the Prime Minister to halt planned co-operation with the Chinese to develop Hinkley Point C near Burnham-On-Sea.
The project to build Hinkley Point C received a £2billion boost this week when the Chancellor announced the UK will guarantee a £2bn deal under which China will invest in the new nuclear power station, paving the way for a final investment decision on the project by French energy company EDF.
However, the Stop Hinkley Campaign has written to David Cameron, urging him to end co-operation with Chinese state-owned nuclear companies, and not to invite them to invest in proposed new reactors in the UK.
Stop Hinkley Spokesperson Allan Jeffery said: “The campaign asks the Prime Minister not to allow his name to go down in history as the Prime Minister who sold the UK to China.”
“Our letter explains that China has an extremely poor human rights record, and recent explosions at chemical plants in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong, and in the northern port city of Tianjin, which killed over 145 people, have exposed China’s poor health and safety record.”
“The Chancellor George Osborne seems so desperate to get this project off the ground that he is prepared to go cap in hand for finance to a country with a lamentable human rights record and poor health and safety record. The Prime Minister should end this charade right now.”
