‘National security concerns’ hold up Channel cable plan
A major infrastructure project to transmit electricity across the English Channel is being held up over “significant national security concerns”, i can reveal.
The Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps, is understood to have concerns over the company set to run the project, Aquind Interconnector, and its directors’ links to Russia.
Aquind is run and owned by men who all have historic links to Moscow, including one director who once worked for the Russian defence ministry.
Although they originate from Russia or Ukraine, they are all now British citizens and long-standing critics of the Vladimir Putin regime.
Aquind has strongly rejected any allegations of national security concerns. In January, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) paused the £1.2bn scheme to run the high-voltage direct current cable from Lovedean substation, north of Portsmouth, across the Channel to near Le Havre in Normandy, after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) intervened to address “concerns” it has about the project.
In its letter to David Wagstaff, head of energy infrastructure planning at DESNZ, on 7 March, the MoD said it had “significant national security concerns” over the project and requested a six-week extension to the deadline to submit further evidence. It is understood this extension was granted.
MoD and intelligence sources, as well as two former defence secretaries, have also voiced worries over the project.
According to the sources, the MoD’s concerns are based on the historic links to Russia. One of the directors, Alexander Temerko, faces corruption charges in Moscow.
One source said: “The people running Aquind all have close, if historical, links to Russia, including with
[the] Moscow defence ministry. That has to raise red flags whether or not they insist they are anti-Putin or not.”
Another senior source within the MoD added: “We’re looking at all the details you have described.”
The Leader of the House of Commons and former defence secretary Penny Mordaunt (inset) has also raised another potential risk to national security should the project go ahead.
Ms Mordaunt warned that the project would make Britain more reliant for its electricity on France, which has threatened to interrupt supplies in disputes over post-Brexit fishing deals.
A spokesman for Ms Mordaunt said: “This scheme is not wanted or needed.
“The Government has already turned it down once. It will be in both Portsmouth’s and the national interest if it is finally confirmed as a no-go.”
Another source familiar with Ms Mordaunt’s view added: “Penny completely shares the concerns of the MoD.”
In January 2022, the then-business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng refused permission for the electricity link, which would provide power for around four million homes, stating that there were “more appropriate alternatives to the proposed route”.
However, 12 months later Aquind successfully overturned Mr Kwarteng’s decision in the High Court and initial work on the link was under way until the MoD paused the project.
A spokesman for Aquind and its directors described the MoD concerns as “racist and xenophobic”.
He said: “We will never respond to racist and xenophobic accusations – based on childish conspiracy theories – such as these. Alexander Temerko, Viktor Fedotov and the other directors of Aquind are British citizens.
“The situation described regarding these allegations’ impact on the DCO (development consent order) process is an absolute lie, with no relation to reality.”
Aquind, Mr Temerko and his previous British company have donated more than £1.7m to the Conservative Party, Tory MPs or Tory fundraising clubs since 2012.
A spokesman for the MoD said: “It would be inappropriate to comment on a re-determination process whilst it is still ongoing, or on the nature of the concerns which MoD might submit to that process.”