Lord West of Spithead
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Energy Security: Hinkley Point
Lord West of Spithead Excerpts(8 years, 9 months ago)
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Lord West of Spithead (Lab)
My Lords, does the Minister agree that this is a mess of the Government’s own making? We have chosen the wrong type of reactor; costs and timescales are at least doubling and may get even more than that. More broadly, will the Minister confirm that protection is in place to ensure that UK firms keep more than 70% of the supply chain contracts for the third planned reactor and beyond and are not squeezed out by the Chinese supply chain firms, because that is the plan of the Chinese supply chains?
Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth
No, my Lords, I do not agree with that. The costs that are increasing are essentially those of EDF. We have a strike price that is agreed, constant and unchanging. I believe that it is a good deal for the Government and that the supply chain is secure. The noble Lord should know that 60% of jobs in the supply chain are already guaranteed for the UK.