LONDON, May 11 (UPI) -- A new white paper setting the course for Britain's energy sector, including a controversial push toward nuclear energy, will be delayed again.
Chancellor Gordon Brown, the most-likely candidate to replace Prime Minister Tony Blair, has ensured the report will wait a week before publication, possibly until June, The Independent reports.
The white paper will propose energy-efficiency and renewable-energy goals for the country and a highly controversial move toward new nuclear power.
Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling was to publish it next Thursday.
Brown favors a new nuclear program in Britain, but The Independent reports Darling and David Miliband, the environment secretary, are trying to influence his positions on certain key aspects of the country's future energy policy, especially between business and environmental interests on regulating emissions.
The U.K. High Court quashed the March release of the white paper after it ruled that the government's consultation with the public regarding new nuclear power was "inadequate, misleading and procedurally unfair."
