An SNP MP had the tables turned on him at the House of Commons as he was challenged to explain why the party is refusing to join the worldwide push for nuclear power.
Kilmarnock and Loudon MP Alan Brown chose to ask about the cost of building two new nuclear power stations in England, Sizewell C in Suffolk and Hinkley Point C in Somerset. He said: “When will the Government admit that the actual cost of Sizewell C will be a colossal £50billion noose around bill payers’ necks?”
Scotland now has only one functioning nuclear power plant, Torness in East Lothian, yet even with the proliferation of wind farms between 10% and 50% of the nation’s energy needs is still provided by nuclear power (because turbines don’t work when the wind is not blowing).
In response to Mr Brown, Scottish Conservative MP Andrew Bowie hit back: “The SNP, blinded by a misplaced belief in its own exceptionalism, seems almost alone in the world in not recognising the benefits of new nuclear when it comes to meeting our net zero objectives, delivering our energy security and improving our baseload.
“At last year’s COP, 30 countries around the world came together to commit to increasing nuclear-generated capacity by 30%. It would be brilliant if Scotland could be part of that change, but the SNP and its luddite partners in the Green party are holding Scotland back. We are determined not to do that for the rest of the UK.”
Mr Bowie, the energy security and net zero minister, was at COP28 in Dubai where nuclear energy was formally recognised as “one of the solutions to climate change”. Some 22 world leaders also signed a declaration to make efforts to triple nuclear energy by 2050 (https://www.oecd-nea.org/…/countries-launch-joint…)
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