PM's nuclear power consultation was a sham, court rules

It was a judgement on the government's supposed consultation with the British public regarding whether or not Britain should renew it's nuclear power stations, but in the end it could easily be a judgement on Tony Blair's entire attitude to democracy.

In Blair's world, the end result gives him an answer that he has already decided as the right one. Yesterday, Greenpeace took him to court. And the final judgement exposed Blair's way of thinking as seriously flawed and undemocratic.

In 2003 the government promised that any decision to introduce nuclear power would be preceded by "the fullest public consultation", particularly over the issues of economics and nuclear waste. However, for many, that was a decision that appeared to have already been taken.

Greenpeace argued before the court that Blair and other ministers had made it clear for many months that they regarded nuclear power as essential, and that any consultation was predisposed to give the government the answer that they sought.

Stephen Hale, former special adviser to the then environment secretary, Margaret Beckett, said at the time: "The truth is that the review was undertaken primarily to act as a springboard to initiate the government's nuclear position." A group of British scientists said in a letter to the journal Nature: "There is a widespread perception that the government has made its mind up."

There was increasing disquiet once the consultation process opened. Sir Jonathon Porritt, head of the government's sustainable development commission and environment adviser to Mr Blair, said: "If the door has closed on objections to new nuclear build, the government should say so. Then we can have an honest debate, and not one which is merely about mollifying public opinion." Individuals and groups were forced to use the Freedom of Information Act to extract material from the government about its real intentions.

"When it arrived, months after the end of the consultation period , the economics paper was entirely blacked out. The government put nothing in the public domain that could be challenged. They did not allow any debate about future waste, only the legacy of the last years," said John Sauven, campaigns director of Greenpeace.

Yesterday, in a stunning legal decision which exposes the faults of Blair's entire attitude to governance, Mr Justice Sullivan found that the government's supposed consultation had been "misleading" and "seriously flawed".

"As a consultation it was manifestly inadequate. There was insufficient information for consultees to give an intelligent response. There was no information on the issues, particularly economics and waste. [Here] all the information of any substance only emerged after the consultation had concluded".

He also said that the government had departed from its promises. "There was no consultation, let alone the fullest consultation. Therefore it was procedurally unfair. "This was not an energy review. It was a sham exercise that ignored issues like terrorism, and proliferation and limited itself to a small amount of electricity provision," said Mr Sauven.

The reaction of Blair's office to this ruling was most revealing:

The prime minister insisted last night that new nuclear power stations had to be part of future energy provision. "This won't affect the policy at all," he said. The trade and industry secretary, Alistair Darling, said he was unlikely to appeal against the ruling, and promised "to put it right and consult properly, to make sure we can get the process back on track".

Ministers will decide next week whether to go ahead with the white paper next month. They believe they may technically be able to proceed even if the new consultation has not been completed, but realise that could be another PR disaster.

Blair had promised a full public consultation, the court has found that his consultation was no more than a sham, and Blair publicly states that this finding, "won't affect the policy at all."

Therefore confirming the judges ruling that the public consultation was never going to have any effect on the final policy. Which does prove that the entire consultation was no more than a public relations exercise designed to give Blair a preordained answer.

Legally, Blair was required to consult with the public on the issue of nuclear power but what he actually allowed was no more than a limited charade.

No supporting evidence was offered on the economics of nuclear power. On waste, such information as was put forward was "not merely inadequate but also misleading". The result was that interested groups were being asked to give their views on the back of evidence that was "wholly insufficient for them to make an intelligent choice".

And yet, this damning judgement will have no effect on the policy. Which says rather a lot about Blair's attitude to governing.

Judicial review considers process, not policy. And yesterday's ruling has found Blair's process to be fatally flawed. However, every statement from the government yesterday revealed that they did not understand where they had gone wrong, even whilst they attacked Justice Sullivan's decision.

The trade and industry secretary, Alistair Darling, said he was unlikely to appeal against the ruling, and promised "to put it right and consult properly, to make sure we can get the process back on track".

Darling is saying that they must, once again, consult "to make sure we can get the process back on track".

The "process" being the commissioning of new nuclear power plants. So Darling is actually promising a new set of consultations to ensure that the government can carry out it's plans. He seems oblivious to the fact that carrying out consultations to arrive at a preordained conclusion is the crime for which this government was yesterday found guilty.

So this is Blair's idea of democracy. His government, having been found guilty of conducting a sham consultation designed to arrive at a preordained conclusion, promises to have another consultation in order to "make sure we can get the process back on track".

"There are none so blind as those who will not see."

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