Quoting a report by independent policy research group the Westminster Energy Forum, the paper said Britain's future energy supplies are at risk from a growing dependency on energy imports and global competition.

The report, entitled "The Energy Timetomb -- Will It Go Off In Labour's Face?", comes ahead of an expected announcement this week by Prime Minister Tony Blair into a review into the cost of nuclear and renewable energy.

In what would be a major switch in policy -- and likely to provoke strong opposition from both within his party and environmentalists -- Blair is reportedly in favour of resurrecting Britain's nuclear energy programme.

Business leaders have voiced strong concerns about the country's future power supplies and recent hikes in the cost of gas.

The Business reported that the research's authors considered that Britain's energy supplies had been "taken for granted" in recent years and their security had "rarely appeared on the political front-line".

"Things have changed," the report was quoted as saying. "The UK's future energy risk profile is climbing rapidly as import dependency and global competition begin to bite."

Concerns about increases in gas prices during colder weather demonstrated what the report calls "the incendiary nature of energy politics when markets tighten" and warned the situation might get worse.

If energy markets in Europe fail to liberalise and increase gas supplies to Britain, consumers will be forced to choose between secure supplies and low prices, the report added.

"A policy is needed" to ensure economic growth and security of supply while adhering to internationally-agreed carbon emissions limits, it added.

"There is an energy timebomb ticking for Britain," the report stated.

Britain's environment secretary, meanwhile, signalled Sunday she might have to endorse a new generation of nuclear power stations despite being "very reluctant to do so".

Nuclear was not a "sustainable" energy source, Margaret Beckett told ITV1 television, but she conceded it might have to be embraced as a means of combating climate change and securing supplies.

Environmental group Friends of the Earth later renewed their calls for the government to disregard the nuclear option, citing research suggesting potential coastal locations for plants were at risk from sea level rises.

Chief executive Duncan McLaren said that put paid any plan to site new power stations next to existing facilities and would spark a "scramble" for above-sea-level locations inland.

"It really is time to drop any ideas of a return to nuclear. There are cheaper, faster and cleaner ways to tackle climate change than nuclear power. And it is those we should be concentrating on right now," he added.

All rights reserved. � 2004 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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