National Policy Statement for Nuclear Energy Generation

Baroness Maclean of Redditch Excerpts

Wednesday 21st May 2025 Grand Committee

[Baroness Maclean of Redditch (Con) (Maiden Speech)]

My Lords, what a huge honour it is to make my maiden speech. My 18 year-old self would be utterly stunned to see herself standing here and, frankly, 40 years on, I am still having to pinch myself every day. My deepest thanks go to the wonderful doorkeepers, Black Rod, the Clerk of the Parliaments and all the dedicated staff for their invaluable guidance. I wonder whether colleagues, like me, have found that Black Rod has some sort of magic powers about her. She looks at you and, all of a sudden, your nerves are quelled—so I thank her for that amazing talent.

I would love to thank my superb supporters. My noble friend Lord Johnson of Lainston, who is in his place, is a tremendous colleague in our shared endeavour to renew our party. Without the guidance of my noble friend Lady Jenkin of Kennington, I would never have become the Member of Parliament for Redditch. My debt of gratitude to her is shared by countless women all across our party, sitting on our Benches in the other place and in your Lordships’ House.

I am especially touched by the kind welcome from colleagues here today and over the previous days and weeks. I thank my noble friend Lady Coffey, who has given me much useful, practical guidance. I am particularly delighted to be among so many Midlanders, with Members from Kings Heath to Birmingham. As a Brummie myself, I feel very much at home, so I thank colleagues for easing my path.

I wish to thank my right honourable friend the leader of His Majesty’s Opposition for her kindness and friendship to me and her graciousness in bestowing on me the honour of taking my place in your Lordships’ House.

My dear and exceptionally supportive husband, David, unfortunately cannot be with me today. I know he is cheering me on. He has agreed to continue to be a political spouse for a lot longer than either of us expected. He definitely deserves my gratitude for that.

On the face of it, not very much links these red Benches with the town and constituency of Redditch, possibly except for the colour red; but it is the values that built Redditch—those Conservative values and those values of the British people—that were etched on my heart every day that I was privileged to serve those wonderful people. It is a town of small businesses, warehouses, manufacturers, leading expertise, market stalls, pubs, volunteer groups both large and small, parish and town churches, farms, high streets and village halls—and all are driven by the power of hard work, enterprise and love.

The values of personal responsibility, prosperity, hard work, entrepreneurship and family are the values that drive Redditch—and they drive me. They are at my core, and they are the heart of our Conservative philosophy. Yet, sadly, last year our party drifted away from these values, and we paid a heavy price.

My noble friend Lord Moynihan of Chelsea, whom I am delighted to see in his place today, explains in his well-received books, Return to Growth, Volume One and Return to Growth, Volume Two—I recommend that noble Lords buy copies of them, although they are available in the Library—that excessive state spending chokes private investment and productive growth. Conversely, when this trend is reversed, growth rockets. But in Britain we are now at an unsustainable 45% of state spending to GDP. That is perilously close to a point where every private sector worker, in effect, funds one individual on the public payroll or receiving benefits. Astoundingly, we are spending £110 billion more annually than comparable developed nations. We simply cannot afford it and I am determined not to leave this economic legacy and this situation for my three grandchildren.

That is why serious, costed reforms are essential to comprehensively rewire the British state to tackle entrenched challenges that have existed for decades. That planning has already started, led by the leader of the Opposition, through the policy renewal programme that our party has started.

Just as Margaret Thatcher tasked Keith Joseph with articulating the moral case for capitalism in 1976, we must again present a coherent, robust and intellectually rigorous argument for our principles. We must break from the failed consensus that led to our defeat, and our future vision for our country will be founded on personal responsibility. That is the only way to genuinely reduce state spending. It will be centred on a strong, vocal and unapologetic endorsement of wealth creation. We will be backing entrepreneurs—I was one for 30 years before I became a Member of Parliament—because they are the architects of prosperity and security for our country. The vital role of family will be central to everything we undertake, because the state can never address society’s challenges in the way that stable, loving parents can.

Today’s business is the NPS on EN-7. I am glad to see that the current Government are continuing to build on the groundwork of the last Conservative Government. We Conservatives agree that the rapid buildout of new nuclear, including SMRs, is a common-sense energy policy that has the potential to cut our dependence on hostile regimes, and it puts British engineering, especially Midlands engineering, back in charge of our power supply. In short, it is a great example of a common-sense energy policy. If I may say so, it is in stark contrast to Ed Miliband’s unevidenced rush to net zero, which is straight out of the pages of a science fiction novel.

I add one more caveat, on which I would welcome the Minister’s thoughts. As I know from my time serving as Housing and Planning Minister, some regulators can hold up building essential infrastructure and the homes our country needs for very unconstructive and unhelpful reasons. I worry that giving Natural England and the Health and Safety Executive an effective veto is very unhelpful, and the NPS should make clear that, given the urgent need of new nuclear, their approval is not required and does not hold up the delivery of this vital infrastructure.

Whatever topics I contribute to in this place—and there will be many in which I have an interest from my time in government—I can promise noble Lords one thing: I will never forget or stop talking about my Conservative values that I learned while serving the wonderful people of Redditch, and I was privileged to serve them. I will always be proud to have represented Redditch in the beautiful county of Worcestershire and to have been born an Englishwoman. What a privilege it is to be British and to enjoy the freedoms of this great country—the freest and the greatest country in the world. That is truly a privilege matched only by being able to take my place today among your Lordships. With God’s help, I will do my best to serve my country and this place. Thank you, and God bless, Redditch.