After years of work, this week finally saw the government give the go-ahead for a new fleet of nuclear power stations in Britain and so sparking a spectacular renaissance of Britain's nuclear industry.
This policy is excellent news for West Cumbria whether or not we receive any new reactors but the race is now on for us to make the case for the private sector to invest in nuclear new build at Sellafield. I have been pursuing this with Westlakes Renaissance and others for some time and will continue to do this over the coming weeks, months and years. Watch this space. I have worked with the No 10 Policy Unit, successive Energy Ministers, Secretaries of State and Prime Ministers past and present on this new policy. This is right for West Cumbria, right for the environment, right for our economy, right for Britain and right for the world. Britain needs a balanced energy policy with a diverse mix of generating capacity and this energy policy will deliver this. I hope that opponents of the nuclear industry will now recognise its unique attributes. Energy saving light bulbs will not save the planet. I am delighted that logic has prevailed although I expect an immediate legal challenge from Greenpeace and others.
Any person, politician or political party serious about fighting climate change and ensuring the security of energy supply in Britain must now accept nuclear as a key element of a balanced, diverse energy policy. So much political debate about energy and the environment is characterised by gesture politics. It’s not enough to just talk about the environment, not enough to pretend to care, not enough to make minor changes to individual behaviour. The truth is that we need to make radical changes and make tough decisions and Gordon Brown and John Hutton have demonstrated today that the government is prepared to take the right long term decisions for West Cumbria and Britain by promoting the nuclear renaissance. Today's announcement will spark an international revival of the nuclear industry.
Answers to my parliamentary questions show that as nuclear power generation in Britain has declined, carbon dioxide emissions have risen. Since the closure of six older nuclear power stations between 2000 and 2005, carbon dioxide emissions increased by 5 million tonnes over the same period. In addition if we were to replace all of the UK’s existing operating nuclear power stations with coal-fired power stations Britain would emit an extra 44 million tonnes of Co2 ever year, if these nuclear stations were replaced by gas fired power stations, our emissions would rise by 22 million tonnes of Co2 per year. The evidence is clear; we need nuclear generation to help us in the fight against climate change.
Nuclear is also essential if we are to increase our national energy independence and secure our energy supplies. Without control over our energy supplies we cannot control our own economy, levels of taxation, public investment or anything else. Today's announcement is also down to the incredibly hard work of the Sellafield Unions and nuclear workers around Britain who have worked tirelessly for decades to achieve today's result - they have performed a superb service for our community and our country.