Has Dave dumped his “nuclear a last resort” commitment?

Watching Andrew Marr interviewing David Cameron this morning I was struck at the ease in which the Tory leader has been able to change the party’s stance on nuclear power. From a position when he became leader of regarding this as a last resort he’s managed to move it so that the only issue is whether or not there is a taxpayer subsidy. Marr pressed him a couple of times but Cameron came out of this easily.

Looking at the polling numbers from today’s YouGov poll and it’s easy to see why. Tory supporters by quite a big margin are the biggest enthusiasts for nuclear power with a split of about 70-22 on the main issue. This compares with 63-25 for Labour supporters and 48-39 for Lib Dems.

Tony Blair used to single out Cameron’s hesitation to back nuclear power as a demonstration of the Tory leader’s inability to make the big decisions. My guess is that Brown was hoping to do the same following last week’s announcement.

An interesting question in the coming weeks will be whether what has been a big change in emphasis will do the Tories damage. Certainly if Brown has anything about him he should be able to exploit the Cameron’s move.

Mike Smithson

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