Environment minister Ed Miliband will ultimately decide the fate of plans for a new power station at Kingsnorth.

But he was giving nothing away during a visit to Medway on Saturday .

Mr Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change spent the morning at the University of Greenwich campus in Chatham, before attending the Labour South East Regional Conference at Priestfield stadium in Gillingham.

He was unable to confirm when there would be a decision on the proposals for a new coal-fired plant, just across the river on the Hoo Peninsula.

The decision has been delayed to allow a full consultation into coal policy.

He said: “I can’t comment on the specific Kingsnorth decision, that is a decision I’ve got to take after our conditions on coal fired power stations come out.

"But what I would say is, I think everyone recognises we need to drive carbon capture and storage forward into the future.

“It is important for climate change, for low carbon energy security and industrially for Britain."

Members of the Communication Workers Union meanwhile lobbied delegates arriving at the South East Regional Labour Conference being held at Priestfield Stadium.

Labour's deputy leader and party chairman Harriet Harman MP and Mr Miliband were among the senior party figures in attendance. Rumours that the Prime Minister Gordon Brown would drop by proved unfounded.

The CWU want the Royal Mail to remain wholly publicly-owned.