Yes Minister (of State for Energy Security and Net Zero)

'You wanted to see me Minister?'

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'Yes Humphrey, have to be quick. I want to get the quarter to four from Kings Cross so I can be ready for the second drop-in tommow. What do we know about the first one today?'

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'Well Minister a good turnout, lots of questions, the Chair of the Partnership says he is enjoying it.'

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'Humphrey, I sense a but coming.'

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'Well Minister it seems there is a bit of resistance from that local group I mentioned opposed to siting of the GDF, not because they are against nuclear waste per se or even that there might be risks, they apparently just don't want the industrialisation of their landscape.'

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'Well it is very nice out there.'

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'Minister, the group was only set up on the day of our annoucement a week ago and they already have professional looking website containing a deal of factual information and links to all our documentation.'

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'Well thats good isn't it? Doing our job for us showing up all our good messages.'

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'Maybe not Minister, it could also show up some of the confusion in our messages,challenge messages and put our people at the drop-ins on the back foot.'

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'What do you mean Humphrey?'

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'Well we describe the size of the surface facility as one kilometer square, which doesn't sound large. They are highlighting that is two hundred and forty-seven acres, and being a rural community the locals know that is bigger than the area of the village of Patrington.'

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'Anything else?'

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''The one million a year that we are offering for them being involved, they are highlighting that for the forty-two thousand population of the three wards, that is only twenty-three pounds a year, and illustrate it as the price of a pizza and couple of pints.'

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'They wouldn't get that much for twenty-three pound s here in London! Oh Bernard, please send me an email to remind me to do my expenses on the train.' 

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'Yes Minister.'

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'Minister their members seem very well briefed, they are handing out prepared question sheets to people going in, and our people are having trouble answering some of those questions.'

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'Well how many are in the Group?'

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'Minister their private Facebook Group has gained more than a thousand members in less than a week.'

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'That doesn't sound a lot.'

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'Apparently it is not as fast-growing as a Glastonbury ticket site, but according to our IT department that is impressive Minister.'

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'Thank you Bernard. Minister we need to manage these people, particularly as you are attending tomorrow's drop-in.'

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'So how do we do that?'

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'Well Minister, we can limit how many people come in at a time, identify members of the group and make sure that they cannot spread their message in the venue. We can also manage them through their visit and ensure they do not interfere with our staff.'

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'Humphrey, are they really a worry?'

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'Well their slogan is the understated and uncontraversal - For People who love South Holderness. So I would say Yes Minister.'

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