Gwyndod Project

Lord Gove Excerpts

Thursday 29th October 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Curran (Lab)]

It is really important to make the point, too, that Wales must be part of this. Often, we have seen projects in the past that have not emphasised that connection to the local community, and we must take those opportunities to do that—so I agree with noble Earl’s emphasis on that. Also, as the Chancellor, John Healey, said yesterday, we must make investment work twice, and we need to make sure we do that in the energy department too, so we get a skills bonus as well as a delivery bonus. We agree that it must represent the most significant industrial investment in the region in Wales for a generation. As I have said, it will support 3,000 jobs. There is a nuclear skills plan, focused not simply on growing the nuclear workforce but on creating a strong, sustainable pipeline of skills, and it is something we will keep under close attention.

[Lord Gove (Con)]

My Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Foulkes, is absolutely right that the Scottish Nationalist Government have been a blocker of nuclear power—but they are not the only Luddites in our political system. It was of course Nick Clegg, as Deputy Prime Minister, who stood in the way of new nuclear, and this Government face opposition from regulators who use legacy EU rules to stop new nuclear power. Fish protection measures have already cost more than £700 million in the development of Hinkley Point. The government-commissioned Fingleton review pointed out how we could deal with these measures, but the Government have refused to implement—

[Noble Lords]

Question!

[Lord Gove (Con)]

—recommendations 11, 12 and 19. Why?

[Baroness Curran (Lab)]

My goodness, there was a lot in that, and I am not sure I heard it all with some of the demands for a question out of it, but I can assure the noble Lord that I would never deny that there have been challenges in delivering our nuclear policy. We have had challenges in planning. It has been far too slow, which is why the Fingleton review was undertaken. We have committed to implementing the 47 recommendations of the Fingleton review and we are implementing some of them already. There will be lots of opportunities to discuss this matter further, when perhaps we can have a more detailed discussion as we take forward the legislation. I suspect the notion of Brexit and the EU will be a continuing matter for discussion in this House.