UK Edition
One of the Conservative party’s biggest donors has accused ministers of worsening the fuel poverty crisis and setting back their green agenda after the Government blocked his planned £1.2bn electricity link between England and France.
Alexander Temerko said the refusal created a “very bad precedent” and strongly criticised Penny Mordaunt, the former defence secretary and a Portsmouth MP, for claiming the project posed a risk to energy security – calling her an “absolutely uncontrollable woman”.
The 55-year-old businessman will seek a judicial review against the Government's decision. He warned that energy investment is a “long-term investment business” but “regulation in Europe is much more stable and more effective than in the UK”, with renewable energy projects facing lengthy hurdles this side of the Channel.
His comments come at a sensitive time for the Government as it tries to attract investment for its renewable energy push and confronts an impending surge in energy bills. The average household bill is expected to hit £2,000 a year when the price cap rises in April.
Mr Temerko said: “Five million people in this country will not be able to afford electricity – for the first time – and they refuse this application and postpone two others.”
He added that the UK presents itself as “[the] greenest, very bold, very brave” but is failing to deliver on this rhetoric.
“We need to create a massive renewable hub in the UK and interconnectors from Europe,” he said.
Mr Temerko, who is planning to challenge the interconnector decision, still supports the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who he said had “done a very good job with the vaccination programme” but said he may need to reshuffle his team to prevent the Government being distracted by rivals positioning for his job in the wake of “Partygate”.
He added: “They definitely need a much deeper connection with business, because only business can deliver money and help to stop inflation and help create new jobs and reduce the price of electricity.”
His planned 2GW electricity link between Portsmouth and Le Havre would be one of a growing number of cables between the UK and the continent helping to balance out intermittent electricity supply from wind and solar, able to meet up to 5pc of UK demand.
The project sparked huge opposition in Portsmouth due to concerns including disruption and the environmental impact of substations and cables.
Ms Mordaunt, MP for Portsmouth North and a minister in the Department for International Trade, warned it would make Britain more reliant on France for electricity when France has threatened to use electricity as a bargaining chip in post-Brexit negotiations.
Donations of more than £1m over several years from Mr Temerko and Aquind to the Conservative party and individual MPs added to controversy around the project. Aquind’s co-owner, Viktor Fedotov, was not initially identified in British corporate records, also fuelling controversy.
The examining authority initially recommended the project, but Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, rejected the application on Thursday, arguing that “adverse effects weigh against the proposed development” and that Aquind should have reconsidered connecting to a substation in Mannington, Dorset, instead of its route.
Mr Temerko said the decision was “absolutely wrong”. He added: “Between populism and real jobs we need to make a decision. That is a problem for government.”
France had never stopped supplying electricity, he added. “The real threat to national security is Penny Mordaunt - absolutely uncontrollable woman.”
Born in what was Soviet Ukraine in 1966, Mr Temerko spent five years running Russskoe Oruzhie, a firm producing weapons for Russia’s military, before moving to Russian oil and gas giant Yukos in 2000.
He moved to the UK as Putin started to seize the company and in 2005 a UK court refused Moscow’s attempts to extradite him saying he would be punished by “reasons of his political opinions”.
Russia has been accused of adding to Europe’s gas price crisis by withholding supplies, a situation Temerko warned could worsen as Putin builds up troops on Ukraine’s border.
“We need to find all sorts of electricity today to prevent that,” he said.
Penny Mordaunt said: “I’m proud that my community fought this scheme. The case we made was that it brought more harm than the need it sought to meet. The judgement agreed with us. I also believe that the less reliant we are on others for supply, the more resilient our nation will be."
A Government spokesman said: “The Secretary of State has refused development consent. We cannot comment further on any potential legal proceedings.”