Extract from Commons
debate on the Budget
(Leeds West) (Lab):...Despite
all the damage that the Tories have done, I am optimistic about
the future for our country. I have had the privilege of seeing
great innovation across Britain, from the development of battery
operated trains at Hitachi in County Durham to hydrogen-powered
engines at JCB in Staffordshire and pioneering research
at Rolls-Royce into
carbon neutral aviation. I know the potential that we have as a
country. That is what Labour’s green prosperity plan is all
about. It is a plan to decarbonise our economy, drive down bills
and let British businesses and workers compete in the global race
for the jobs and industries of the future...
Extract from Lords
debate on the Budget
On SMRs—small modular reactors—this Budget gives another bit of
good news: prioritising nuclear and saying that it will be
treated as green is spot on. The Government say that they are
going to look into SMRs. Why are we “looking into” SMRs? Why are
we waiting? Rolls-Royce has
the technology. These small modular reactors can give power to 1
million people, and cost one-sixth of a large plant such as
Sizewell. They take five years to make, and we have not even
started building one. Nuclear has been neglected by every
Government, whether Labour, Conservative, or the Liberal and
Conservative coalition. Nuclear has been neglected to our peril
and I am glad that we are giving it focus...
