Futures Forum: Building Hinkley >>> the response from the South-West
Looking at the project within the context of 'the South-West', there are obvious links between between the Hinkley deal, the promise of a Devon/Somerset devolution arrangement and the Heart of the South-West Local Enterprise Partnership:
Futures Forum: Devolution and Local Enterprise Partnerships: a summary
Futures Forum: Devolution for Devon and Somerset? >>> and EDF at Hinkley Point
Futures Forum: Devolution for Devon and Somerset? >>> of Local Enterprise Partnerships, 'opportunites for East Devon' and 'competing for crumbs at Hinkley Point'.
There has been scathing comment over the months from the East Devon Watch blog:
Devolution and scrutiny | East Devon Watch
The Chinese way of doing business? | East Devon Watch
“Hinkley Point deal out of date and too expensive, says energy chief “ | East Devon Watch
Heart of the South West LEP member doing well in the arms trade | East Devon Watch
(Re)location, (Re)location, (Re)location | East Devon Watch
Institute of Directors has no enthusiasm for Hinkley C | East Devon Watch
“Beyond metro mayors and ‘secret deals’: rethinking devolution in England” | East Devon Watch
And all of this is now set within the context of Brexit:
Hello, Hinkley C, goodbye green energy (and the NHS) | East Devon Watch
The EDW blog refers to comment from the satirical website 'The Canary':
“Hinkley: where Tories’ private bank balances are going nuclear” | East Devon Watch
Hinkley: where Tories' private bank balances are going nuclear | The Canary
The Canary has provided further comment on the Hinkley deal - all set very much within the politics of Brexit:
‘Hinkley deal better than no deal, right?’ asks floundering PM | The Canary
Mainstream media seems to agree - with this observation from the Telegraph:
Forget the economics of Hinkley Point, the politics are convincing
MATTHEW LYNN 15 SEPTEMBER 2016
But hold on. Alongside yet another record level of employment announced this week, and buoyant retail sales data released yesterday, all of which have sailed beyond the expectations of even the most wildly optimistic Brexiteer, we are now spending a massive £18bn on one of the most ambitious power upgrades in the world, the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. On taking over as Prime Minister Theresa May had appeared to put that project on hold amid fears over the security implications of China’s involvement. Now those fears have been dismissed, and the decision made to press on.
In truth, the economics of the new power station are not completely convincing. But post-Brexit, the politics are absolutely spot-on. It shows the UK is not afraid to start new projects; that we can work with global partners; and that we are able to renew our infrastructure to help businesses to grow. After this, we should embark on a few more major works, starting with a new airport for London, and an extension of HS2 up to Scotland.
Forget the economics of Hinkley Point, the politics are convincing - Telegraph
And from Bloomberg:
Theresa Maybe: What U.K. Nuclear Decision Tells Us About Brexit
Robert Hutton RobDotHutton September 15, 2016
Lawmakers in Britain’s Conservative Party trying to work out what their new prime minister thinks about Brexit -- or indeed anything -- have a nickname for her: Theresa Maybe.
It’s a moniker the French and Chinese governments will appreciate after they were left hanging for weeks to find out whether the U.K. was going to sign off on the Hinkley Point nuclear plant. Having surprised them by announcing a delay in July, Theresa May gave no clues as to her thinking. As recently as two weeks ago, the French thought her silence meant the deal must be off. This week, she gave it the green light.
Likewise, on the central question facing Britain, the U.K.’s exit from and future relationship with the European Union, she has offered few clues as to her priorities, beyond saying she wants some level of control over immigration. Every question is met with the same answer: “Brexit means Brexit.”
That silence partly reflects the difficulties around what her Brexit Secretary David Davis called “the most complicated negotiation of all time.” But it’s also characteristic of May’s approach to decision-making.
“This is the way I operate,” May told reporters on her way to China at the start of the month, when she was asked about the Hinkley project. “I don’t just come in and say I just made a decision, I actually look at the evidence, take the advice and then consider that and come to my decision. That’s exactly the process I’m going through.”
Flat-Pack Surprise
The Conservative leadership contest that saw May become prime minister didn’t shed any light on who she is. Under the original timetable, the winner would only just have been announced. But in the chaos that followed Britain’s June 23 referendum decision to quit the EU, May won by watching all the other candidates blow up. She found out she was to be prime minister within an hour of finishing the first of what was supposed to be a series of speeches to introduce herself to the country.
While Tory MPs were grateful at the time to have certainty over their summer vacations, not to mention a leader with some gravitas, many of them have since realized the extent of their ignorance about her plans for the country. In particular, what level of distance does she want from the EU? Does she want access to its single market? What is she prepared to sacrifice to get that?
Speaking privately, one Tory lawmaker compared their situation to the experience of seeing a wardrobe in an Ikea showroom, and then getting home to discover that you own a pile of flat-pack boxes. You know you’re going to have a wardrobe at the end of it, he said, but you don’t know quite what it will look like.
Real Tory
To Tories determined to get as far away from the EU as possible, there are reasons to be suspicious of May. She campaigned to stay in the bloc, and has talked about ensuring that Brexit doesn’t damage Britain’s exporters, which could be read as code for keeping close to the single market.
May needs to keep these lawmakers onside. Her predecessor, David Cameron, learned to his cost that they see leaving the EU as far more important than political loyalty. She gave them early cheer when she appointed three key “Leave” campaigners to top positions: Davis to oversee Brexit, Boris Johnson to Foreign Secretary, and Liam Fox as Trade Secretary.
This pressure could help explain her announcement last week of an expansion of academically selective schools. While the policy in itself has nothing to do with the EU, it was a reversal of one of Cameron’s early totemic positions, one that many Tory MPs hated. Unwilling to give details of her Brexit position, May was instead offering a signal that she was a real Tory, one who shared the party’s instincts.
That announcement offered an insight into just how closely the prime minister holds her cards. Three days earlier, a note about it was photographed under the arm of a minister outside May’s 10 Downing Street office. “I simply don’t know what the PM thinks of this,” Jonathan Slater, the most senior civil servant at the Department for Education, had written.
Cabinet Exception
On another major decision facing the government, whether to expand London’s Heathrow airport, the Department for Transport faces a similar dilemma. Before Cameron’s unexpected departure, officials had tried to work out where every minister and lawmaker stood on the issue. With May, they drew a blank.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who took his Liberal Democrats into coalition with the Conservatives in 2010, spent five years in government with May. He describes deciding to avoid negotiating with Tory ministers, instead reaching agreements with Cameron. “The one exception was Theresa May, because Number 10 couldn’t get her to do what they wanted,” Clegg said in an interview. “So every two weeks, I would have a meeting with her and we would work through a lot of issues and then whittle them down.”
Clegg did offer a positive takeaway of his experiences with May.
“By God, it was hard work,” he said. “But when we’d reached an agreement, she’d stick to it.”
Theresa Maybe: What U.K. Nuclear Decision Tells Us About Brexit - Bloomberg
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.
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Forget the economics of Hinkley Point, the politics are convincing - Telegraph
And from Bloomberg:
Theresa Maybe: What U.K. Nuclear Decision Tells Us About Brexit
Robert Hutton RobDotHutton September 15, 2016
Lawmakers in Britain’s Conservative Party trying to work out what their new prime minister thinks about Brexit -- or indeed anything -- have a nickname for her: Theresa Maybe.
It’s a moniker the French and Chinese governments will appreciate after they were left hanging for weeks to find out whether the U.K. was going to sign off on the Hinkley Point nuclear plant. Having surprised them by announcing a delay in July, Theresa May gave no clues as to her thinking. As recently as two weeks ago, the French thought her silence meant the deal must be off. This week, she gave it the green light.
Likewise, on the central question facing Britain, the U.K.’s exit from and future relationship with the European Union, she has offered few clues as to her priorities, beyond saying she wants some level of control over immigration. Every question is met with the same answer: “Brexit means Brexit.”
That silence partly reflects the difficulties around what her Brexit Secretary David Davis called “the most complicated negotiation of all time.” But it’s also characteristic of May’s approach to decision-making.
“This is the way I operate,” May told reporters on her way to China at the start of the month, when she was asked about the Hinkley project. “I don’t just come in and say I just made a decision, I actually look at the evidence, take the advice and then consider that and come to my decision. That’s exactly the process I’m going through.”
Flat-Pack Surprise
The Conservative leadership contest that saw May become prime minister didn’t shed any light on who she is. Under the original timetable, the winner would only just have been announced. But in the chaos that followed Britain’s June 23 referendum decision to quit the EU, May won by watching all the other candidates blow up. She found out she was to be prime minister within an hour of finishing the first of what was supposed to be a series of speeches to introduce herself to the country.
While Tory MPs were grateful at the time to have certainty over their summer vacations, not to mention a leader with some gravitas, many of them have since realized the extent of their ignorance about her plans for the country. In particular, what level of distance does she want from the EU? Does she want access to its single market? What is she prepared to sacrifice to get that?
Speaking privately, one Tory lawmaker compared their situation to the experience of seeing a wardrobe in an Ikea showroom, and then getting home to discover that you own a pile of flat-pack boxes. You know you’re going to have a wardrobe at the end of it, he said, but you don’t know quite what it will look like.
Real Tory
To Tories determined to get as far away from the EU as possible, there are reasons to be suspicious of May. She campaigned to stay in the bloc, and has talked about ensuring that Brexit doesn’t damage Britain’s exporters, which could be read as code for keeping close to the single market.
May needs to keep these lawmakers onside. Her predecessor, David Cameron, learned to his cost that they see leaving the EU as far more important than political loyalty. She gave them early cheer when she appointed three key “Leave” campaigners to top positions: Davis to oversee Brexit, Boris Johnson to Foreign Secretary, and Liam Fox as Trade Secretary.
This pressure could help explain her announcement last week of an expansion of academically selective schools. While the policy in itself has nothing to do with the EU, it was a reversal of one of Cameron’s early totemic positions, one that many Tory MPs hated. Unwilling to give details of her Brexit position, May was instead offering a signal that she was a real Tory, one who shared the party’s instincts.
That announcement offered an insight into just how closely the prime minister holds her cards. Three days earlier, a note about it was photographed under the arm of a minister outside May’s 10 Downing Street office. “I simply don’t know what the PM thinks of this,” Jonathan Slater, the most senior civil servant at the Department for Education, had written.
Cabinet Exception
On another major decision facing the government, whether to expand London’s Heathrow airport, the Department for Transport faces a similar dilemma. Before Cameron’s unexpected departure, officials had tried to work out where every minister and lawmaker stood on the issue. With May, they drew a blank.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who took his Liberal Democrats into coalition with the Conservatives in 2010, spent five years in government with May. He describes deciding to avoid negotiating with Tory ministers, instead reaching agreements with Cameron. “The one exception was Theresa May, because Number 10 couldn’t get her to do what they wanted,” Clegg said in an interview. “So every two weeks, I would have a meeting with her and we would work through a lot of issues and then whittle them down.”
Clegg did offer a positive takeaway of his experiences with May.
“By God, it was hard work,” he said. “But when we’d reached an agreement, she’d stick to it.”
Theresa Maybe: What U.K. Nuclear Decision Tells Us About Brexit - Bloomberg
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