Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
From November 4 to November 8, 2018, China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) financed a £52,501 to £54,000 GBP trip to Taishan, China for the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Nuclear Energy (APPG Nuclear Energy) of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The financing, received as benefits-in-kind, covered flights and other travel expenses, accommodations, and food for the APPG Nuclear Energy. The trip was described by MPs as a "fact-finding visit" and included meetings with representatives from CGN, the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, and Taishan community. The trip included a visit to Taishan Nuclear Power Plant, home of an EPR reactor, the same model of reactor to be used in the Hinkley Point C (HPC) Nuclear Power Plant Project. After the trip, on November 14, 2018, APPG Chair Ian Liddell-Grainger, MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset – the location of the of HPC – praised the EPR reactor in Taishan. In addition to Liddell-Grainger, the following MPs of the APPG Nuclear Energy attended the visit: Neil Coyle, MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark; Trudy Harrison, MP for Copeland; and Sue Hayman MP for Workington. The estimated breakdown of the benefits received by each was as follows: - Coyle: £8,300.11 GBP for flights, car hire, food, and accommodations; - Harrison: £7,419.50 GBP in total; £6,720.78 GBP for flights, £203 for a care hire, £141.72 for food, and £354 for accommodations; - Hayman: £9,559.83 GBP for flights, car hire, food, and accommodations; - Liddell-Grainger: £9,559.83 GBP for flights, transport, food, and accommodations (for Coyle, Harrison, and Hayman, see pg.7 and 16 of "Register of Members' Financial Interests updates 20 November – 3 December 2018"; for Liddell-Grainger, see pg.12 of "Mr. Ian Liddell-Grainger MP Rectification"). In 2021, the visit became a point of controversy for Liddell-Grainger, as Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone found that Liddell-Grainger breached Paragraph 14 of the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament for failing to register the November 4 to November 8, 2018 visit to Taishan and failing to declare an interest in a debate – the debate where he praised CGN's EPR reactor – on November 14, 2018. Liddell-Grainger apologized for these breaches and the inquiry was concluded by the rectification procedure, with the interest added to the Register of Members' Financial Interests in bolded and italicized italics to show that it had been the subject of an inquiry. This trip was closely associated with CGN's participation in the HPC Nuclear Power Plant Project. For the various financing for this project, please see the following linked IDs: ID#89650 (China Development £2 billion GBP loan), ID#90455 (CDB £798.4 million GBP loan), ID#90461 (CDB £4 billion GBP loan), ID#90465 (pledged CDB £4 billion GBP loan), and ID#90466 (CDB £531 million GBP loan).
Staff comments
1. The precise monetary value of this trip is unknown, as the Register Of All-Party Parliamentary Groups places monetary values in bands of £1,500 GBP, and this financing was placed in the £52,501 GBP to £54,000 GBP band. Additionally, adding the interests received by each APPG Nuclear Energy member only yielded £34,839.27 GBP. For now, AidData taken a conservative approach and coded the transaction amount as the lowest possible value, £52,501 GBP. Furthermore, it is unclear where and how the nearly £20,000 GBP not accounted for by the interests received by the MPs was spent. This issue merits further investigation. 2. The intent of this project has been coded as "Mixed" as this trip was in service of CGN's commercial interests in HPC.