SNP opposition to new nuclear power stations ‘makes no sense', says Miliband
The Energy Secretary said Holyrood's position 'makes no sense', as Labour MP Gregor Poynton claimed the policy had cost workers and taxpayers north of the border 'billions of pounds of investment and thousands of high-skilled jobs'.
SNP MP Kirsty Blackman described the UK Government's new £14.2 billion investment into Sizewell C in Suffolk as a 'splurge', when she pressed Mr Miliband on whether the Government will back the Acorn carbon capture and storage project.
Mr Miliband said the Sizewell development along East Anglia's North Sea coastline will 'power the equivalent of around six million homes with clean homegrown energy for 60 years, and it will be a jobs and growth engine for Britain, supporting 10,000 jobs in the peak construction and creating 1,500 apprenticeships'.
It is one of several nuclear projects which the Government has backed, which also include a prototype fusion plant at West Burton, Nottinghamshire, and a partnership between Rolls-Royce and Great British Energy – Nuclear to rollout small modular reactors.
Mr Poynton, the MP for Livingston, told the Commons: 'Scotland was once a pioneer in nuclear energy and should be again, but due to the SNP Scottish Government's outdated, backward, quite frankly bizarre opposition to nuclear energy, turning away billions of pounds of investment and thousands of high-skilled jobs.
'So, does the Secretary of State agree with me this is yet another way the SNP Scottish Government has lost their way?'
Mr Miliband replied that Mr Poynton was 'so right', and added: 'People in Scotland will be looking at these announcements and saying, 'well why isn't it us that are benefitting from this? Why are we not even in the race?''
The Scottish Government, led by SNP First Minister John Swinney, has a policy of opposing the building of new nuclear power stations.
Lillian Jones, the Labour MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, criticised the position as an 'ideological block on nuclear power, blocking billions in investment, blocking thousands of well-paid, secure Scottish jobs, and blocking growth'.
In his response, Mr Miliband said: 'We can announce a golden age of nuclear with our investments but not in Scotland, because of the position of the SNP Government.
'It makes no sense.'
Aberdeen North MP Ms Blackman had earlier said: 'This £14 billion splurge on English nuclear power plants comes on top of £22 billion for English carbon capture and storage, while there's nothing for Scotland's Acorn project.
'With Grangemouth (oil refinery) allowed to close, with a fiscal regime that is ruining north-east energy jobs, this latest announcement shows that Scotland isn't just an afterthought, it isn't a thought at all.
'If nearly £40 billion can be found for English energy projects, why is it that money is never found for Scotland's carbon capture project?'
Mr Miliband replied: 'Well look, I think maybe there is an SNP change in position coming. If she wants to have a conversation about Scottish nuclear power stations, then absolutely.
'We're in favour of the Acorn project and we'll be saying more about this in the coming weeks.
'But let me just say to her – on nuclear power, they've really got to think again.
We are backing nuclear with the biggest building programme in a generation.
🔧£14.2bn for Sizewell C👷10,000 jobs & 1,500 apprenticeships⚛️ Small Modular Reactor programme
Clean, homegrown power will boost the UK's energy security, protect billpayers & drive economic growth. pic.twitter.com/te9oIOeEll
— Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (@energygovuk) June 10, 2025
'They are absolutely sticking their heads in the sand when it comes to this. This is about jobs, it's about investment, it's about clean energy, they should really rethink.'
In an earlier statement, Mr Miliband said: 'The Government is taking decisive steps today to usher in a new golden age of nuclear for Britain.'
He added: 'For too long, our country has not made the crucial energy – or indeed other infrastructure investments – we need. A short-sighted failure to invest for which the British people have paid the price in lower living standards, insecurity and declining public services.
'This week's announcements symbolise a decisive change in approach, to invest in the future – the right choice for energy security, the right choice for jobs, the right choice for climate and our children and grandchildren, the right choice for Britain, investment, not decline.
'This Government has made its choice.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
16 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Reeves has folded like the Tin Foil Chancellor she is
Rachel Reeves confirmed on Wednesday that she is a ' spend today, tax tomorrow ' Chancellor. Her spending spree on the country's credit card has set us on a collision course with the autumn when more tax rises will hit working families' pockets hard. After a year of chaos, how can anyone take this Government seriously? Rather than using the spending review as an opportunity to deliver secure public finances, the Chancellor is instead lurching from one disaster to the next. The cruel cuts to winter fuel payments, the £30 billion Chagos Islands surrender and the billions in no-strings-attached union handouts are all chickens that have come home to roost. When the pressure is on, the self-styled 'Iron Chancellor' folds like the 'Tin Foil Chancellor' she really is. She promised to get borrowing down, but the deficit is up by 70 per cent on her watch. She pledged no new taxes rises, yet more are on their way. She pledged not to change pensioner benefits, then U-turned. Then U-turned again. The only consistent thing about her is her inconsistency. Her own MPs, Cabinet ministers and Labour's trade union paymasters smell weakness. They know she's vulnerable and they will demand more money – and get it if they shout loud enough. The Chancellor has boxed herself into a corner. We face an extra £200 billion of borrowing this Parliament compared with the last Conservative Budget, with £80 billion more in interest payments alone. We are almost a year in but no economic plan is forthcoming. Our country is exposed. We have no room left to respond to shocks in global markets. Interest rates and mortgages are staying higher for longer because of her choices, as the OBR has said. She trumpets the hundreds of billions in extra spending she has announced while on the other hand claiming to have fixed the public finances. It simply doesn't make sense. She claims there is 'still work to do to ensure the sums add up'. That's not stability, it's uncertainty – the very last thing markets want to hear. It is not just markets. Her abject failure means British families have seen inflation almost double, unemployment rise, growth stalling, debt interest soar and pensioners sacrificed. The country is worse off because of her choices. What of the winter fuel U-turn? Last summer, pensioners were left out in the cold to avoid 'a run on the pound', as Labour's Lucy Powell put it. Now they claim they can afford to reverse it because they have fixed the economy and the finances – but economists are saying both are in a worse state since Labour came to office. Nothing's changed except the Government's credibility, which is vanishing. Rock bottom confidence There was nothing in her review restore rock bottom business confidence. Payrolls fell by over 100,000 last month alone. Unemployment is up 10 per cent since Labour took office. Only businesses create growth and jobs. But our Chancellor has not yet learnt that basic lesson of economics, her fingers planted firmly in her ears whilst the alarm bells are ringing. Similarly, the first and most important duty of any Prime Minister is keeping the country safe. But even as the world is becoming more dangerous and a new axis of evils draws their battle lines, there was no further progress towards spending 3 per cent of GDP on defence, which Labour claim to be committed to. They stood firm on the Chagos surrender, which is paying for tax cuts for Mauritians while we suffer, costing our country £30 billion to lease back our own land. There is no urgency on the issues of the day. The Home Office budget too has been significantly hit by asylum costs, while illegal crossings soar. Rather than point the finger at everyone else, the Chancellor should take responsibility and fix the problems she has created. Instead, the socialist's lazy embrace of high spending, more borrowing and higher taxes beckons – leaving our public finances dangerously vulnerable. If we were in charge, we would take a different approach. We wouldn't kill growth with tax rises and red tape. We'd restore confidence, focus on efficiency and productivity, and reform welfare to get people off benefits and into work. At the end of the day, it's working people and businesses who will pay – with higher taxes, higher costs, and fewer opportunities. This Spending Review is unaffordable, and so is this Chancellor.
Daily Mail
22 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Business counts cost of Labour's bloated state amid fears Chancellor is set to launch another tax raid
Business has been left fearing another tax raid after the Chancellor's spending review failed to shrink the bloated state. Bosses demanded that Rachel Reeves show leadership by tackling public sector waste – as the private sector is having to cut its cloth as Government-imposed costs surge. Reeves told MPs she would be 'relentless in driving out efficiencies', claiming billions would be saved through greater productivity and more use of artificial intelligence (AI). But her announcement did nothing to change the size of the spending 'envelope' set out at the time of her Spring Statement, leaving many fearing the worst in this autumn's Budget. Analysis of official forecasts cited by former Bank of England rate-setter Andrew Sentance shows spending as a proportion of GDP will average 44.6 per cent during Labour's parliamentary term. 'However Rachel Reeves spins her spending review, this Government is planning the biggest spending review since World War Two, outdoing even Denis Healey [in the 1970s] in spending as a share of GDP,' Sentance said. That profligacy has come at a cost: higher taxes. Businesses have so far borne the brunt, as the Chancellor's £25billion raid on employer National Insurance Contributions (NICs) in last autumn's Budget left them scrambling to find savings – and, in many cases, cut jobs – as they also grappled with a sharp rise in the minimum wage. The spending review will not improve that situation. In fact, it has only heightened fears that Reeves will put taxes up again. That is because a worsening economic picture – partly thanks to Donald Trump's trade war – could take its toll on growth and, therefore, reduce the tax take. Higher borrowing costs are also making it harder for the Chancellor's sums to add up. Reeves insisted that the fiscal rules obliging her to balance the books are 'non-negotiable' – meaning something will have to give. The Institute of Directors (IoD) voiced hopes that some of the Chancellor's efficiency measures could be used to help business. Anna Leach, chief economist at the IoD, said: 'We would expect over time for savings to be used to bring down the tax burden from its post-war record.' But the Chancellor made clear that she had no intention of doing so. Instead, she boasted that 'every single penny [will be] reinvested back in our public services' – raising eyebrows in the City given the state of the public finances and long-term projections that they will get even worse over coming decades. 'Makes sense when your debt is on a sustainable path, less so when debt [as a proportion of GDP] is heading to 270 per cent and interest costs £105billion/year,' said Simon French, chief economist at broker Panmure Liberum. It all added up, experts said, to an inevitable tax raid this autumn. The frustration for bosses is that while the Chancellor recycles cash around the public sector – part of her plan includes hiring thousands more staff to collect tax – they are having to make tough choices after being battered by her tax raids. Steve Hare, chief executive of UK software firm Sage, noted in an interview with the BBC that while his clients – small and medium businesses – were 'trying to drive their own productivity and efficiency', the size of the Civil Service workforce had swollen to more than half a million. For some firms, efficiencies may not be enough. Michael Turner, chairman of pubs group Fullers, warned: 'The changes to NICs took everyone by surprise and I fear it could be terminal for a number of smaller operators in our market.' The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Britain's main business lobby group, has warned that the prospect of further tax increases risked further damaging sentiment. 'Businesses are labouring under the cumulative burden of rises in NICs and minimum wages,' said CBI chief executive Rain Newton-Smith. She added: 'With the Autumn Budget now coming sharply into focus, the Chancellor should prioritise squashing tax rumours and speculation that risks stymying confidence and subduing investment decisions.' But others were broadly resigned that more punishment is on the horizon. 'Tax rises are now all but inevitable... no matter what measures are taken between now and the Budget,' said Alison Ring, the director at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. She added: 'The Government's sticking plaster strategy remains an obstacle to addressing the deep-set challenges facing the country.'
Scottish Sun
30 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Chancellor Rachel Reeves unleashes eye-watering borrowing spree in do-or-die bid to drive growth
RACHEL Reeves was yesterday branded a 'spend now, tax later' Chancellor after unleashing an eye-watering borrowing spree in a do-or-die bid to drive growth. Ms Reeves put £113billion on the country's credit card to fund 'national renewal' projects — with defence and the NHS taking the lion's share of the budget uplifts. 3 Rachel Reeves was branded a 'spend now, tax later' Chancellor Credit: Simon Walker / HM Treasury 3 The Chancellor unleashing an eye-watering borrowing spree in a do-or-die bid to drive growth Credit: AFP She was accused of digging the 'black hole' in public finances Labour claimed to have inherited into a 'crater into which public confidence is plunging'. Experts said her next Budget may have to raise up to £23billion to keep to her fiscal rules amid economic slowdown and uncertainty over US tariffs. It sparked fears of tax rises in autumn to stop UK debt worsening and spooking money markets. Ms Reeves came out fighting after a humiliating 48 hours in which she U-turned on winter fuel cash for millions of OAPs. She unveiled spending plans for the next three years, calling them 'Labour choices' in the hope of shoring up support in the party's heartlands amid the threat of Nigel Farage's Reform UK. Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said she had a 'Corbynist catalogue' of tax rises to flick through to fund her pledges — a reference to a secret memo Deputy PM Angela Rayner sent her suggesting ways to raise cash. He called her a 'tinfoil Chancellor, flimsy and ready to fold in the face of the slightest pressure' as she set out her plans. He said: 'This is the spend now, tax later review, because the Chancellor knows she will need to come back here in the autumn with yet more taxes and a cruel summer of speculation awaits. 'How can we possibly take this Chancellor seriously after the chaos of the last 12 months?' Mr Reeves insisted later that no tax rises would be needed to pay for her commitments. Top 5 takeaways from Spending review She said: 'Every penny is funded through the tax increases and changes to the fiscal rules that we set out last autumn.' The review was the first since 2007 to go through spending 'line by line', it was claimed. The health department is expected to make £9billion in efficiency savings by 2028-29, and the defence budget £905million. The Chancellor told MPs: 'I've made my choices. In place of chaos, I choose stability. 3 'In place of decline, I choose investment. In place of pessimism, division and defeatism, I choose national renewal. 'Reforms that will make public services more efficient, more productive and more focused on the user. I have been relentless in driving out inefficiencies. 'I will be ruthless in calling out waste with every penny being reinvested into public services.' She will hope the cash injections will ease relationships with Labour backbenchers concerned at welfare cuts. A vote on measures is planned for next month. The biggest winner in the review was the NHS, which gets a three per cent budget rise in England over the next three years, taking its funding to £226billion. Financial cushion The defence budget will go up by 2.6 per cent but pressure is mounting on ministers to raise it again to 3.5 per cent by 2035. The vow to build 1.5 million homes in the next five years was boosted with confirmation an average of £3.9billion will be go on social and affordable housing in the next decade. Ed Miliband's energy department gets a 16 per cent real-terms rise with £14.2billion extra going on the Sizewell C nuclear plant. Families and OAPs could save £600 a year on bills in more energy-efficient homes, she said. A pledge to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029 will save £1billion a year, she insisted. The police will get an above-inflation increase but top cops have warned of 'incredibly challenging' budgets following tense talks between the Chancellor and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. Surrey Chief Constable Gavin Stephens said the money will 'fall far short' of that needed to fund Government ambitions and maintain the existing workforce. He said the increase 'will cover little more than annual inflationary pay increases'. The Chancellor inherited, supposedly, a black hole and she has dug a crater into which public confidence is plunging. Richard Tice Ms Reeves aims to meet her fiscal rule of balancing day-to-day spending with revenues by 2029-30 and plans to reduce the UK's debt. Her financial cushion is just less than £10billion. Reform deputy leader Richard Tice said public spending was 'completely out of control'. He said: 'The Chancellor inherited, supposedly, a black hole and she has dug a crater into which public confidence is plunging.' Economist Ruth Gregory, of Capital Economics, said Ms Reeves may need to find an extra £13billion to £23billion in autumn's Budget 'simply to maintain her current buffer against the fiscal rules'. Stephen Millard, interim director of the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, said it is now 'almost inevitable' that if she sticks to her rules, she will have to raise taxes this year. Rain Newton-Smith, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, warned that the Government cannot target business again following its £25billion raid at the last Budget. She said: 'We will hold the Chancellor to account that she won't come back for tax rises on business . . . because I don't think business can shoulder any more. 'The Prime Minister himself has said you cannot tax your way to growth. "So I think it's critical that we don't see rises like that on business because they are the ones that need to invest to deliver the growth mission.'
