Representation by Jonathan Collins
- Date submitted
- 24 February 2023
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
As a local Rutland resident and taxpayer, I am horrified that the British Government is even considering this application. [Redacted] has been undoubtedly established as a beneficiary of Uyghur slave labour. The situation in Xinjiang is a genocide with state murder and repression on a tragic scale. This is akin to the horrific situation in Ukraine. Not only this, according to the Sheffield Hallam report: [Redacted]‘likely benefits from’ its relationship with the Chinese Communist Party’s paramilitary: XPCC. This is akin to Russian paramilitary Wagner Group, who commit atrocities in Ukraine and beyond. Have we learned nothing? The Chinese have brazenly been sending spy balloons, and make attacks on our Critical National Infrastructure on a regular basis. We have slowly learned of the fatal mistake of using Huawei, yet here we are poised to make the same mistake again. We cannot trust China to provide our 5G coverage, how on Earth can we plug them directly into our power grid? What are the outcomes? 1. The Government show sense and rejects this disaster before it happens; 2. The Government finally realise the perils and finally sanction Canadian Solar (much like the US Government already has), but it is too late – so now we have a half-finished solar plant in the middle of high-quality agricultural land (during a Cost of Living Crisis, with our island’s food security in jeopardy). Consider then the cost of remediating the site with another provider; 3. The Government don’t realise the mistake, and Rutlanders will be boiling their kettles, and lighting their homes with the blood of Uyghur mothers and children. (I know I can’t include links – but maybe google the BBC’s ‘Faces from China’s Uyghur Detention Camps’ if you want a cheerful reminder of the utterly evil foundation upon which [Redacted] is based). Furthermore, we have the Director of Mallard Pass Solar Farm Limited: [Redacted], who has an extensive record of serving as Director of insolvent companies; and has (from what is available online) ostensibly little experience in a project of this size. Indeed its most recent filing at companies house (filed late, I might add) shows Mallard Pass Solar Farm Limited as insolvent, and owing creditors £651,431. Due to the late filing, these figure are already a year out of date – so I suspect this figure is now larger still. If this project were to go ahead: consider the local people and service providers who may themselves become creditors of the Company. What happens to them if history repeats yet again for [Redacted]? For example when Regenesys UK Limited entered liquidation, owing £606,738 to its creditors, not least £83,692 to HMRC. Freesonar Solar 1 Limited (compulsorily struck off, with most recent accounts showing it owed £615,962), Stealth Renewable Technologies Ltd (compulsorily struck off, with most recent accounts showing it owed £128,978). The list goes on and on. According to its most recent Annual Report, Canadian Solar earned $1.2 BILLION in revenue from China in 2021, and $7.7 MILLION from the UK. Its Chinese revenue was 40 times that of its revenue from even Canada. Don’t let the name fool you, this is a Chinese company, it is even planning on listing its core subsidiary on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2023 (according to its latest Investor Presentation). This information is all available online. This is not a standard solar farm application, where local objections could be (rightly or wrongly) boiled down to matters of ‘visual impact’, drainage, ecology and the like. You are considering installing Critical National Infrastructure using a Chinese company, and not only that, you are relying on one that uses slave labour and benefits from the sadistic tyranny of the Uyghur people. This will be fought tooth and nail at every step and I have every confidence it could be turned into a full front page scandal and humiliating u-turn for the department and the Government if the wrong decision is made at this point. You have the power to put a stop to this today, and for the sake of decency, humanity and our national security – you should do so.