Gwyndod Project

Baroness Curran Excerpts

Thursday 29th October 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist]

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the Gwyndod Project on civil nuclear employment in Wales.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (Baroness Curran) (Lab)]

Great British Energy-Nuclear is continuing to drive forward Gwyndod, the UK’s first small modular reactor project. Great British Energy-Nuclear and Rolls-Royce SMR entered contract earlier this year and are now undertaking design work to progress the Gwyndod SMR project on Anglesey in north Wales. The project, which represents the most significant industrial investment in north Wales for a generation, will support up to 3,000 skilled jobs on site at peak construction, and thousands more across the supply chain.

[Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist (Con)]

I thank the Minister for her Answer. Project Gwyndod indeed presents a unique opportunity to create thousands of skilled jobs, to transform local communities and to help Wales become a world leader in nuclear technology and its supply chain, but to achieve that ambition, we must also invest in the infrastructure and connectivity of that region, including an upgrade to the A55. What steps are the Government planning to take to ensure that this project is not held back by the current deficiencies in infrastructure?

[Baroness Curran (Lab)]

Of course infrastructure is vital, and I recognise the point the noble Baroness makes about Wales becoming a world leader and her commitment to Wales. This Government support the development of infrastructure very strongly, as has been evidenced on many occasions. The Government will work in partnership with the Welsh Government to deliver better transport in north Wales. This was demonstrated by Transport for Wales increasing the number of trains on the north Wales coastline by about half in May. In its planning for the delivery of the Gwyndod project, Great British Energy-Nuclear will consider the infrastructure required.

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords, we have in the NHS a network of cyclotrons, which produce loaded medical isotopes. What we do not have is reactor-based production of isotopes, so we import 80% to 90% of those isotopes from abroad, with supply chains often precarious. This means that our patients, particularly cancer patients, have delays in getting their treatment. The Welsh Government produced a good business plan for reactor-based production of isotopes in Wales, at a cost of £400 million and lasting 70 years. If Wales is not an ideal place, maybe the Government will consider Scotland—but when are we going to have such reactor-based production?

[Baroness Curran (Lab)]

The noble Lord has raised a very important point. I would always support the performance of devolved Governments in the UK, and I note the point he makes. I understand there have been discussions on the Project ARTHUR proposal with the Department of Health and Social Care, though there has not been any formal commitment to a specific project. I assure the noble Lord that the Government are committed to ensuring resilient medical radioisotope supplies and making use of diverse international supply chains, alongside greater UK manufacturing capability. Wider funding, including through the £520 million life sciences innovative manufacturing fund, has been made available to support UK manufacturing. However, I note the point he has made about Scotland and his other points, and I will ensure they are communicated to the relevant departments, because if it is raised in Parliament in this manner, it matters to departments and they should pay attention to it.

[Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Lab Co-op)]

My Lords, in Scotland, as my noble friend knows, Hunterston and Torness are coming to the end of their lives shortly, yet new nuclear in Scotland is opposed by the Scottish Government. I know that the UK Government do not want to upset the Scottish Government. However, since energy is a reserved area, is this not exactly an area in which we should use our sovereign powers and overrule the Scottish Government?

[Baroness Curran (Lab)]

That was interesting and challenging, as ever, from the noble Lord. I do not know how well people know this, but I am not really on record as being frightened to upset the Scottish Government—I do not think they would have that view, either.

The noble Lord raises a very serious point. There have been discussions about nuclear power in Scotland. The Green Party had a debate at their conference, and it has resisted it, unfortunately, and the SNP has stood against it. They have missed huge opportunities to contribute to the development of clean energy in Scotland and across the UK. They are also turning their back on huge opportunities for investment and infrastructure development, and the development of skills. Of course, we have high standards of safety and security, overseen by independent regulators, and we have made enormous progress on this. The SNP has been very backward in its attitude, so I will use every opportunity I can to pursue this issue with the SNP Government—and I am not frightened to do so.

[Earl Russell (LD)]

My Lords, on these Benches, we very much welcome the progress that has been made on this important project at Gwyndod. I ask the Minister to give some further information on the skills pipeline needed. We recognise that there is the opportunity of 300 apprenticeships and 3,000 jobs, but what action are the Government taking to ensure that local Welsh residents, including Welsh speakers, are able and empowered to apply for these jobs and that they turn into long-lasting opportunities?

[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—

[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.

[Baroness Smith of Llanfaes (PC)]

As someone who grew up on Ynys Môn, many of my friends had to leave the island to get a job. After 15 years of a Conservative Government in London and many years of a Labour Government in Cardiff, that has been an economic disaster for Wales. So, can the Minister commit to recruiting locally for this project, so we do not have another generation that has to leave the island just for a job?

[Baroness Curran (Lab)]

Again, that is a very serious question and a matter that demands close attention. I would need to look at the details of the particular island rather than give the noble Baroness guarantees, but I can assure her that the principle of local employment, ensuring local communities benefit from infrastructure development, is at the centre of what we do. We will keep it closely monitored and ensure there is a skills pipeline coming through, because a range of jobs are associated with nuclear projects, from the very highly skilled through to apprenticeships, which are vital. Overall, our commitment is to growth in every postcode: economic regeneration for all the UK. It was a model between the Plaid Cymru Government and the UK Government to develop this project. Michael Shanks was there last week with the Welsh Government Minister, and they were seen delivering together. That is a constructive approach. We have our differences, but on employment regeneration, we can work together.

[Lord Forbes of Newcastle (Lab)]

My Lords, while I welcome the employment opportunities expected from the Gwyndod project, does my noble friend the Minister agree that success should be measured not simply by the number of jobs created but by whether they are secure, high-paid, union-recognised jobs, filled by local people? What steps are the Government taking to ensure that this ambitious project creates a sustainable pipeline of engineers, technicians and skilled tradespeople, not just in north Wales but nationwide, supporting both this initiative and the UK’s future nuclear programme as a whole?

[Baroness Curran (Lab)]

That is another vital dimension of this. I should have said earlier that the nuclear skills hubs include the Wales hub. They are a UK-wide approach that brings employers, training providers and partners together to address local skills needs and strengthen that pipeline of talent needed to support the sector’s future. The plan is also to strengthen apprenticeships, graduate programmes, doctoral research and technical career paths, to develop the engineers, technicians and skilled workforce needed to support the UK’s current and future nuclear ambitions. We all know that, economically, that has a read-across to other industries and skills, as well as knock-on effects for suppliers. We want to release this money, to make it work twice and to make sure we have high-level, well-paid jobs that, of course, are unionised too.