"The tragic events in Japan have inevitably led governments around the world to reflect on their own nuclear programmes," said Bolsover. "But UK is not exposed to the same threat of natural disasters as Japan. Technology has moved on - the technology being used at Fukushima plants was developed at a time when we still didn’t require people to wear seat belts in cars. In the UK there is no viable alternative to nuclear – we simply don’t have a viable Plan B. Without it, UK would not be a place where industry saw a sustainable future for investment."
Bolsover was speaking to an audience of more than 450 industry leaders and government officials at the association’s annual lunch.
He also had three other messages to the government – to review how carbon is measured, bring business to the heart of the localism agenda and to be bold with the ‘Green Deal’. It will not work without some form of additional incentive, he said. “To my mind it would be bizarre to continue to charge the full rate of VAT on those measures that might qualify for the Green Deal, such as insulation, double glazing, and more efficient central heating boilers. Reducing VAT on these kinds of products would, at a single stroke, stimulate the take up of a key government policy and drive forward economic growth through the economic activity and jobs it would create.”
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