THE news that the tax payer will bankroll any financial shortfall in building the new nuclear power station at Hinkley has not met with universal approval.

The region's Green MEP Molly Scott Cato said: “Wheeling out the Tory spin machine shows the government’s desperation. This is not new money at all. Numerous deadlines for signing this flawed deal have now been missed with French companies facing technological delays and Chinese companies facing financial difficulties.

“It is astonishing that the government will go begging the Chinese for money in the middle of a stock market crisis while neglecting our incredible renewable resources in the South West. The Navitus off-shore wind development in Dorset alone would have secured enough energy to power 700,000 homes. There is clearly an ideological pro nuclear, anti-renewables obsession at the heart of government."

Stop Hinkley, the pressure group opposed to the development said the project had created the most expensive form of energy every seen. And they said it was riddled with technical problems associated with Areva’s troubled EPR (European Pressurised Reactor) technology which raised safety concerns about the integrity of some of the reactor vessels.

They also hit out at the at legacy that nuclear power stations leave for future generations.

Send your views on Hinkley C to harry.mottram@nqsw.co.uk