NIA to the fore at party conferences

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Friday, 25 January 2008

Despite a new government and second consultation in 2007 – September, true to form, has been the busiest period of the year in any public affairs calendar. Over a four week period, the TUC along with the Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative parties host their annual conferences. This provides a time of unparalleled national focus on political issues and opportunity to engage parliamentarians and activists. The NIA have once again taken full advantage of this with an extensive programme of events at all conferences, giving speakers from industry, politics and unions the opportunity to express their views on nuclear. Our meetings at the party conferences focused on the potential for new build in the UK. The highlights of these meetings included speeches from John Hutton MP (Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform otherwise known as BERR) and Charles Hendry MP (Conservative Shadow Energy Minister). They also saw a commitment from Lembit Öpik MP (Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for BERR) to engage with the industry and to undertake “his own nuclear consultation”. As well as our own events, NIA sponsored fringe meetings at each party conference, run by a prominent think-tank. “Nuclear waste – yes please” organised by CentreForum at the Lib Dem conference attracted a significant audience to discuss ways forward with waste management. Lembit Öpik showed that an all party consensus was possible on waste disposal as he believed deep geological disposal was the way forward and if so the party could not credibly carry on saying there was no solution to waste. “Planning – in whose interest?” run by UnlockDemocracy at the Labour and Conservative conferences brought large numbers of councillors together in discussion of the planning process for major infrastructure projects. These events were complimented by the invaluable networking opportunities unique to the conference season, with NIA and member representatives taking time to engage political figures at all levels. NIA also hosted a dinner at each conference, for Parliamentarians, sponsors and guests – providing a more intimate forum for conference sponsors to interact with MPs. Overall the conference season was a huge success for the industry. Party members from the grassroots to ministerial level, showed a strong interest in nuclear – reflecting the current profile of climate change and security of supply. Active engagement and education at all levels of the political process is central to converting this interest into support. For more information contact Simon James, Head of Public Affairs This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

 

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