Trio of Conservative politicians accept donations from Aquind
Three Conservative MPS have received donations from Aquind, the company behind the controversial planned interconnector scheme, it has been revealed.
Sir Simon Clarke, Sir Liam Fox and Alun Cairns have received £25,000 in total from Aquind Ltd.
If approved, the scheme would lay an electricity cable stretching from Normandy to Eastney, passing through Portsea Island, Drayton, Purbrook, Waterlooville and ending at a substation in Lovedean.
Sir Simon Clarke, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland in the north east, received £5,000 on March 27 and was accepted on the same day.
Sir Liam Fox, MP for North Somerset, received £10,000 on March 25 – he accepted the money on April 3.
Alun Cairns, MP for
Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales, received £5,000 on March 2 and March 21 – he accepted each donation on the day he received them.
The nature of the donations is not disclosed, other than Mr Cairns’s first donation which was to “support my campaign”.
Around the same time the donations were sent, the Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed that the Ministry of Defence has “serious national security concerns” over the proposed project.
Aquind is part-owned by Russian-born former oil executive Victor Fedotov and directed by Ukranianborn British businessman Alexander Temerko.
The government originally refused the project in January 2022, only for the decision to be overturned in the High Court a year later.
The decision now rests with Claire Coutinho, the secretary of state of energy security and net zero.
Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan said: “This whole saga has reeked of government cronyism.
“Since this project started, Alexander Temerko has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to the Conservative Party and nearly one in ten Tory MPS have accepted money from Viktor Fedotov’s businesses.”
Mr Morgan added he finds it “stunning” that Tory MPS are accepting money from Aquind after the Ministry of Defence’s concerns were reported “just months ago”.