UK lowers target for renewable energy

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The Government is committed to generating 20 per cent of the country's electricity supply from renewable sources by 2020.

However, energy minister Malcolm Wicks said this was an EU-wide target and not specific to the UK, which he suggested would achieve a cut of 10 to 15 per cent.

"We're negotiating with the European Commission but it's got to be a considerable figure," he said. "It's got to be somewhere between 10 per cent and 15 per cent."

Mr Wicks also claimed Britain was contributing heavily to the fight against climate change in other areas.

"At the end of the day, renewables is a means to an end. The end is bringing down carbon emissions," he told BBC's Newsnight.

His comments on renewables contradict a pledge made a year ago by the then environment secretary David Miliband, who vowed to make Britain a global leader on tackling climate change, telling the Commons last October: "We are committed to generating 20 per cent of our electricity supply from renewables by 2020."

It also emerged today that a programme of new nuclear reactors may have to be delayed because of a lack of inspectors. Only five have been assigned and 35 more are needed.