Oral Answers to Questions

Trudy Harrison Excerpts

Tuesday 27th February 2024 Commons Chamber

[Trudy Harrison (Copeland) (Con)]

12. What steps she is taking to increase nuclear energy capacity.

[Karl MᶜCartney (Lincoln) (Con)]

18. What steps she is taking to increase nuclear energy capacity.

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[Andrew Bowie]

I can confirm that I have had those conversations, and the Government are exploring the potential for reducing regulatory burdens for the consenting and licensing of new nuclear power stations without impacting safety, security or environmental protections. We are also looking to introduce a range of other streamlining measures, including the action plan for reform, which sets out reforms to the nationally significant infrastructure projects regime.

[Trudy Harrison]

Will the Minister confirm that Nuclear Decommissioning Authority-owned land adjacent to Sellafield will be made available for new nuclear? More specifically, will enough land be made available to accommodate two 470 MW Rolls-Royce power stations and their ancillary buildings and spaces?

[Andrew Bowie]

I can confirm that Moorside is indeed a candidate for new nuclear, and it is one of a number of potential sites for hosting civil nuclear projects. Great British Nuclear is currently running a competitive process to select those small modular reactor technologies best able to facilitate operational projects in the 2030s. That said, the project needs to run its course, and I know my hon. Friend will understand that no decision on sites has yet been made.

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[Amanda Solloway]

The Government are already committed to ensuring that households have the necessary energy efficiency. We have introduced the social housing decarbonisation boiler upgrade scheme, the home upgrade grant and many other initiatives, and we are of course helping all our constituents with affordability.

[Trudy Harrison (Copeland) (Con)]

We have made huge progress in decarbonising our electricity sector, but decarbonising transport and heat is much more tricky. Will the Minister encourage our plans in Copeland to harness any power that can be obtained from new nuclear for that purpose, and will he meet us so that we can discuss those plans?

[Andrew Bowie]

I should, as ever, be delighted to meet my hon. Friend, and very happy to discuss the opportunities that are opening up for her community and others throughout the United Kingdom. Indeed, I have visited her constituency and observed for myself the huge enthusiasm for new nuclear, as well as the additional benefits that it can bring to the wider energy sector.

Civil Nuclear Road Map

Trudy Harrison Excerpts

Thursday 11th January 2024 Commons Chamber

[Andrew Bowie]

I know the right hon. Gentleman would never stoop to petty politics in this Chamber or anywhere else, but I have to disagree with him. I share his passion for small modular reactors, and I share his belief that Rolls-Royce is a world-leading company that is delivering for this country right now and will continue to do so in future.

We are proud of the small modular reactor competition, which we launched in July. We have already completed the first process. We have six world-leading technologies competing to get investment from the UK Government for deployment here domestically, of which Rolls-Royce is of course a part. We will be launching the next phase in a matter of weeks. It is world-leading, and faster than any comparable programme in the world. The right hon. Gentleman says to get a move on, but we have not stopped to draw breath since we first launched GBN and the small modular reactor drawdown competition in the summer. However, I welcome his support for what we are doing, and I hope that he can encourage more of his colleagues to support it.

[Trudy Harrison (Copeland) (Con)]

Today I am fighting back tears of joy and jubilation for this road map, because it is absolutely clear that we have a Minister and a Government who are utterly committed to nuclear—whether that is civil, defence, safe storage, medical isotopes or the entire supply chain. May I remind my hon. Friend the Minister that the road map clearly refers to the A595, the road between Barrow and Workington, where the journey began? Will he give his absolute assurance that he will remember where the journey began —with the commitment from my community and the community across Furness and west Cumbria—and ensure that that is at the forefront of his decision making on future missions?

[Andrew Bowie]

My hon. Friend—she is a friend—is rightly proud of the contribution that Cumbria has made to our nuclear journey over the last century. The journey began at Calder Hall and has continued. She is right, and at the forefront of our decision making will be the experience, expertise and learning that has developed in and around her constituency, which will of course be at the forefront of our nuclear renaissance.

COP28

Trudy Harrison Excerpts

Thursday 14th December 2023 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

On the coalitions of the willing, the world is changing, and the EU has already legislated for a carbon border adjustment mechanism for selected parts of industry, which will put up a carbon tax or a carbon price at the border. There is a certain intellectual inevitability about that if costs of production in one country are not reflected in others, and ensuring that that is done in a just manner is important. I would hate to look back at COP28 and find that it was one of the last times that countries around the world were able, on the basis of mutual trust, to talk to each other and come to a common agreement. The hon. Gentleman, who is highly experienced in this area, knows just how tender—I am sure there is a better word. The hon. Gentleman knows just how fragile the process could be if we do not all step carefully and ensure that we carry people with us.

[Trudy Harrison (Copeland) (Con)]

The commitment that 24 countries have made to triple nuclear energy capability by 2050 shows that the world has woken up to the most powerful, least land-taking, reliably proven net-zero energy provision that we have in the world. That is testament to my right hon. Friend, his Department and this UK Government, who committed first to 24 GW. Will he join me in recognising that without the world-class skills—I draw Members’ attention to my entry in the register, because I am happily married to a nuclear welder with 45 years’ experience—and the blue-collar workers and nuclear operators working every hour, every day on sites across the UK, we would not, and the world would not be in a position to back atomic energy? Will he join me in commending Britain’s energy coast, which recognise that for us to tool up, retrain, train and recruit, we must regenerate nuclear communities, which are often coastal communities? That is exactly what Britain’s energy coast, and the energy coast business cluster, is doing so well in west Cumbria.

[Graham Stuart]

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend and her energetic, continual and well-informed—not least by marriage—understanding of the nuclear industry and its importance. I remember being at Sharm El Sheikh and it seemed that the only people talking about nuclear were 95 youngsters from some tiny pavilion at the back, who were going around promoting its importance. The science says that we cannot get to net zero without nuclear, in the appropriate places and with all the caveats. I remember saying to the incoming UAE presidency that, given their success with their Barakah reactors, and given the need to deliver nuclear and the UK’s determination for a renaissance, surely all countries involved need to come together and send a signal to the world, so that we are not leaving teenagers alone to champion the importance of nuclear. We as a country should step up loud and proud, and face down those who oppose nuclear from an ideological perspective, because it is so important not only to delivering net zero, but to delivering so many jobs in constituencies such as that of my hon. Friend around this country.

Oral Answers to Questions

Trudy Harrison Excerpts

Tuesday 28th November 2023 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

Regrettably, the content of so many Opposition Members’ questions this morning is absolutely not in line with reality. Oil and gas production in the UK not only typically has lower emissions than the alternative of imports, but supports 200,000 jobs, all of which would be at risk if the Labour party came to power. To answer the hon. Gentleman’s specific question, it is expected to raise £50 billion of tax over the next five years, all of which—including the safety of his constituents—would be at risk if Labour ever came to power.

[Trudy Harrison (Copeland) (Con)]

Do my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State and the Minister for Nuclear and Networks, my hon. Friend the Member for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Andrew Bowie), agree that the very best location for two 470 MW Rolls-Royce small modular reactors is next to Sellafield, which will use some of the power and is a centre of nuclear excellence?

[Andrew Bowie]

My hon. Friend is another great champion for nuclear. It gave me great pleasure to visit her constituency just a few weeks ago to see the great work being done at Sellafield. As we have set out, we aim to deploy up to 24 GW of nuclear energy by 2050, and we remain open to all available technologies that will deliver it. We are developing a new national policy statement that will provide the planning framework for new nuclear power beyond 2025. We are consulting on a proposed way forward for determining how new nuclear developments might be located.