Guido is giving the government the benefit of the doubt over its planned “review” of Sizewell C. According to the BBC, a spokesperson said they are “reviewing every major project”, including the new nuclear power plant, as Jeremy hunts for £25 billion in spending cuts. Scrapping a route to energy independence shouldn’t be on the menu…
BEIS, however, suggest this is overblown, and “one large-scale” plant is still likely to go ahead:
“HS2 is under way, within budget, and supporting 28,000 jobs, we are also seeking to approve at least one large-scale nuclear project in the next few years and aim to speed up the delivery of around 100 major infrastructure projects across the UK.”
As Jim Pickard points out, this is obviously a reference to Sizewell, although it’s not clear on the timings. The government also indicate that Sizewell is likely safe because scrapping it would undermine decarbonisation plans. Either way, pulling the plug because it will “take years to build” would be straight out of the Nick Clegg playbook. Go nuclear, go large…
UPDATE: Government spokesperson confirms Sizewell C is NOT being scrapped.
