LAST week I welcomed the Vice President of the French Assembly, Denis Baupin, to Hinkley Point.

His decision to visit the site of the proposed new nuclear power station reflects his concerns that UK energy policy is disappearing up a dangerous dark alley.

France is taking a different path, with the French government recently adopting a law which will reduce nuclear energy in the country.

Hinkley is fraught with risks. Firstly, there are safety and technological risks.

Denis was able to tell us about the flawed EPR design being proposed for Hinkley C. This is the design being built at Flammanvile in France.

The nuclear safety watchdog in France has found multiple malfunctioning valves that could cause a meltdown, while the steel reactor vessel housing the plant’s nuclear fuel, was also found to have serious anomalies that increase the risk of cracking.

These problems have pushed the projects years behind schedule leading to risks to our energy security and blackouts over the next ten years. Hinkley is supposed to produce 7% of the UK's energy. But we now know there will be no electricity from the new nuclear plant until at least 2023.

Then there is the risk of Chinese finance. The companies that would be part of the deal are part owned by the Chinese government and therefore controlled by The Chinese Communist Party. How bizarre that a Conservative government is inviting the Chinese Communist party to control our energy infrastructure.

The white elephant of Hinkley looks increasingly shaky on its feet. Only the government’s risky ideological crusade against renewables and in favour of nuclear keeps it standing. It’s time for it to fall and for communities in the South West to create in its place a renewable energy revolution.

One that could create 122,000 new quality jobs and boost the region’s economy by over £4bn a year. Renewables offer a chance to seize back control of our energy supply from giant corporations and hand it back to the people.