A controversial cross-Channel energy scheme backed by a serious Tory donor who was a Russian oil tycoon has been thrown out by the federal government.
The £1.2bn Aquind scheme for an underwater vitality and communications cable additionally sparked claims by a minister that it will enable France to “flip off the facility” in a future post-Brexit battle.
Now the enterprise secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has introduced his determination to “refuse improvement consent”, a letter on the Planning Inspectorate web site revealed.
The advantages of the deliberate hyperlink between Portsmouth and Normandy in France have been outweighed by “planning harms”, together with to an historic fort and to tourism within the space, he mentioned.
The choice has been lengthy delayed, amid controversies over the donor – Alexander Temerko – and accusations that the commerce secretary, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, did not disclose lobbying by him.
Mr Temerko is a director of Aquind, having donated £730,000 to the Conservative Occasion and its MPs since 2012, whereas the corporate itself has donated an extra £500,000 over the identical interval.
His web site has included pictures of him with Boris Johnson, together with one among them embracing at a dinner in tuxedos, it was reported.
This week, the commerce minister Penny Mordaunt – a Portsmouth MP – warned the mission would make Britain extra reliant on France, which has threatened to interrupt provides in disputes over fishing.
“The French have already mentioned they are going to flip off the facility. They’ll use future vitality provide as a bargaining chip,” she mentioned.
The choice was hailed by Stephen Morgan, Labour MP for Portsmouth South, who mentioned: “This can be a victory for the folks of Portsmouth over years of uncertainty and Tory cronyism.
“I’ll proceed to boost questions on how Conservative ministers got here so near permitting get together donors to manage a nationwide infrastructure mission.”
A second donor, Viktor Fedotov, who holds a controlling stake in Aquind, is Russian-born and a former vice-president of the Lukoil vitality company.
The Ukrainian-born Mr Temerko grew to become a Conservative patron after his high-powered profession ended with him fleeing to the UK, going through costs over enterprise actions.
He was head of the state-owned weapons agency Russkoye Oruzhie – “Russian weapons” – in 1995, earlier than changing into a senior government of Yukos, the Russian oil and gasoline firm 5 years later.
Ms Trevelyan advised the Commons, whereas serving as vitality minister, that she had not been in dialogue with the stakeholders of Aquind.
However Freedom of Data disclosures then revealed that Mr Temerko had despatched her letters within the previous two months in regards to the interconnector mission.
Kaynak: briturkish.com