Rishi Sunak claims his party has witnessed a “revival” of the nuclear industry – just hours after one of his ministers suggested plans for the sector should have been drawn up “years ago” .
The Prime Minister said during a visit to Barrow-in-Furness, home to Britain’s nuclear submarine fleet in Cumbria, that the Conservatives supported nuclear power and the UK’s nuclear deterrent.
The site will receive £20m of public funding and £180m a year for the next 10 years, in a move the government hopes will create more than 8,000 jobs and help the industry fill 40,000 new roles by the end of the decade.
His comments came as nuclear minister Andrew Bowie admitted plans for the industry were long overdue.
“I make no secret of it, we should have done this years ago. We are catching up,” he told Times Radio on Monday.
Politics Live: Sunak issues nuclear power warning ahead of expected China cyberattack announcement
“But we have just delivered our civilian nuclear energy roadmap this year, we have announced our intention to build a third gigawatt project, we are investing £350m in new nuclear power to take Vladimir Putin out of the nuclear fuel market and we are actually Working to deliver small modular reactors through our competition which will end this year.
“But of course, this should have been done years ago, which is why we have to act the way we do now.”
Asked about Bowie’s comments, the Prime Minister told reporters: “We’ve seen a renaissance in the nuclear industry under the Conservatives because of their clear support for nuclear power and our nuclear deterrent.”
Sunak, whose party has been in power since 2010, accused Labor of having a “largely ambiguous relationship” with nuclear power and said it failed to invest before the party came to power in 2010.
Please use Chrome browser for a more convenient video player
Andrew Bowie on £750m nuclear investment
“If you look at what has happened since 2010, we have given the green light to Sizewell C [and] Hinkley Point, two nuclear power stations, we’re making progress on small modular reactors, we’ve recommitted our nuclear deterrent and a new generation of nuclear submarines and alternative warheads,” he said.
“All of this is happening under a Conservative government.”
As part of Mr Sunak’s plans Ushering in the ‘next generation’ of the UK nuclear industryCompanies such as BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, EDF and Babcock will also invest around £763 million in the region.
The nuclear announcement is as follows dissatisfied voice Concerns within the government about defense spending levels are high, with two current ministers recently urging Sunak to increase defense spending to at least 2.5% of GDP from the current level of just over 2% of GDP “where economic conditions permit” .
Foreign Affairs Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan and Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said earlier this month that “faster” investment was needed, while Defense Secretary Grant Shapps called for military spending to be increased to GDP 3%.
Hinkley Point C Work in progress
read more:
Lack of new defense spending in budget frustrated insiders and Conservative MPs
UK expected to impose more sanctions over China democracy and security concerns
Sunak said the government had announced the biggest continued increase in defense spending since the Cold War and had “recently delivered billions of pounds more to strengthen our nuclear undertaking and rebuild stockpiles”.
Labour’s shadow defense secretary John Healey welcomed the commitment to nuclear energy, while the SNP said the plan would “waste another £200m” on nuclear energy and was the “wrong priority”.
Follow us on Google news ,Twitter , and Join Whatsapp Group of thelocalreport.in
