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The UK/Ireland Nuclear Free Local Authorities could not help but notice that the first speech made by King Charles III at the State Opening of Parliament (17 July) was nuclear free as His Majesty was spared having to utter the word.
By tradition, the Sovereign reads the speech, written for him by Whitehall officials and signed off by Ministers, to a combined gathering of Lords and MPs. This sets out the legislative programme for the coming Parliament. Clearly with the return of a new Labour Government, elected with a huge majority, Ministers are keen to get on and exercise their mandate and the speech was brimming with forty proposals for new legislation[i].
On energy there was an emphasis on meeting the urgent challenge of climate change whilst reducing customers’ bills through a ‘clean energy transition’, but His Majestry was notably not called upon to extole nuclear energy as a means to do so so; instead the speech referenced the need to ‘accelerate investment in renewable energy, such as offshore wind’ by creating a new vehicle Great Britain Energy which will be publicly owned and headquartered in Scotland. Nuclear was thankfully nowhere to be seen, seemingly stll on its summer holidays[ii].
Interestingly, the Background Briefing Notes issued to accompany the publication of the speech by Number 10 also makes no reference to nuclear.[iii]
Also interestingly, Ed Miliband shortly after his arrival at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero issued a statement as Secretary of State to his staff – this too makes zero reference to nuclear as a component in the fight to achieve Net Zero.[iv]
Nuclear then appears late for the party, as per usual, or may even have been excluded from the invite list.
For it is notable that whilst Labour’s energy manifesto makes much of getting new nuclear projects at Hinkley and Sizewell ‘over the line’, extending the lifetime of existing plants, and backing new nuclear including Small Modular Reactors by the end of the government’s first term in 2030, mention of any of this has been noticably absent in the government’s recent pronouncements.
The NFLAs hope that Ministers on being appraised of the huge costs and massive challenges of delivering a new nuclear programme has quietly opted to go for the common sense approach of choosing cheaper, practicable and achieveable renewables to deliver truly green energy, energy security, lower bills and Net Zero. Fingers crossed.
Ends:// For more information, please contact NFLA Secretary Richard Outram by email to: richard.outram@manchester.gov.uk
Notes for Editors
[i] C/o DeHavilland: The Government’s full programme can be found below:
Economic stability and growth
- Budget Responsibility Bill
- National Wealth Fund Bill
- Pension Schemes Bill
- Employment Rights Bill
- Planning and Infrastructure Bill
- English Devolution Bill
- Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill
- Better Buses Bill
- Railways Bill
- Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill
- Arbitration Bill
- Product Safety and Metrology Bill
- Digital Information and Smart Data Bill
- High Speed Rail (Crewe to Manchester Bill)
- Draft Audit Reform and Corporate Governance Bill
Great British Energy and Clean Energy Superpower
- Great British Energy Bill
- The Crown Estate Bill
- Sustainable Aviation Fuel (Revenue Support Mechanism) Bill
- Water (Special Measures) Bill
Secure borders, cracking down on antisocial behaviour and take back our streets
- Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill
- Crime and Policing Bill
- Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill
- Victims, Courts and Public Protection Bill
Break down the barriers to opportunity
- Children’s Wellbeing Bill
- Skills England Bill
- Renters’ Rights Bill
- Football Governance Bill
- Draft Leasehold and Commonhold Reform Bill
- Draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill
- Draft Conversion Practices Bill
Health
- Tobacco and Vapes Bill
- Mental Health Bill
National security and serving the country
- Hillsborough law
- Armed Forces Commissioner Bill
- Northern Ireland Legacy legislation
- House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Bill
- Cyber Security and Resilience Bill
- Commonwealth Parliamentary and International Committee of the Red Cross (Status) Bill
- Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015 (Extension) Bill
- Holocaust Memorial Bill
[ii] Extract from the King’s Speech relating to energy:
‘My Government recognises the urgency of the global climate challenge and the new job opportunities that can come from leading the development of the technologies of the future. It is committed to a clean energy transition which will lower energy bills for consumers over time. A Bill will be introduced to set up Great British Energy, a publicly owned clean power company headquartered in Scotland, which will help accelerate investment in renewable energy such as offshore wind [Great British Energy Bill]. Legislation will be brought forward to help the country achieve energy independence and unlock investment in energy infrastructure. A Bill will be introduced to support sustainable aviation fuel production [Sustainable Aviation Fuel (Revenue Support Mechanism) Bill].’
The full King’s Speech can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-kings-speech-2024
[iii] Extract of the Background Briefing Notes covering energy:
GREAT BRITISH ENERGY AND CLEAN ENERGY SUPERPOWER (Pages 46-47)
Great British Energy Bill
“A Bill will be introduced to set up Great British Energy, a publicly owned clean power company headquartered in Scotland, which will help accelerate investment in renewable energy such as offshore wind.”
- The Bill establishes Great British Energy – a new, publicly-owned energy production company which will own, manage and operate clean power projects up and down the country.
- Great British Energy will be owned by and for British people, helping to make our country energy independent and so ensure British taxpayers, bill payers and communities reap the benefits of clean, secure, home-grown energy and lower bills for families. In this way, Great British Energy will help us take back control of the country’s energy, achieve energy independence, create new jobs, save money for households and tackle climate change.
What does the Bill do?
- The Bill establishes Great British Energy which will:
- develop, own and operate assets, investing in partnership with the private sector. It will have a capitalisation of £8.3 billion of new money over the Parliament. Through these investments, Great British Energy will take a stake for the British people in projects and supply chains which accelerate technologies of the future, reaping benefits at home in cheap clean power and securing Britain at the front of the global race for technology which has major global export potential.
- facilitate, encourage and participate in the production, distribution, storage and supply of clean energy, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from energy produced from fossil fuels as well as measures for furthering the transition to clean energy and improving energy efficiency.
- The Bill gives the Secretary of State the ability to provide Great British Energy with the financial backing needed for it to meet its aims and ambitions. The Secretary of State will be required to prepare a strategic priorities statement for Great British Energy, to ensure it focuses its efforts on Government priorities.
- The Bill builds on the immediate work by the Energy Secretary to deliver the Government’s mission to achieve clean energy by 2030, including scrapping the ban on onshore windfarms and appointing Chris Stark – the former chair of the Climate Change Committee – to lead the Mission Control for 2030.
Territorial extent and application:
The Bill will extend and apply UK-wide. We will work closely with the Northern Ireland Executive on the scope of Great British Energy’s functions and opportunities for Northern Ireland.
Key facts:
- Already a global leader in renewable energy, Scotland will be the home of our clean energy mission, with Great British Energy headquartered there.
- Significant private sector investment is required to deliver a decarbonised power system, which public sector investment and institutions can stimulate through partnership.
- It is highly unlikely that this scale and pace of investment could be delivered by the private sector alone within the current institutional and policy landscape. While the exact generation capacity make-up of a decarbonised power system could take a variety of forms, it is likely to require at least a doubling of current onshore wind capacity, and a three to fourfold increase in current offshore wind and solar capacity.
Leveraging the capabilities that only the public sector has, a public energy company, in combination with additional electricity market reforms, could help mitigate existing market failures, and therefore increase the speed and reduce the cost of deploying renewable generation capacity.
- Decarbonising the power system will increase energy security by reducing the UK’s dependence on imported oil and gas, which will in turn reduce the exposure of consumer bills to volatile international prices. Currently the cost of electricity tracks the cost of gas because gas generation sets the marginal wholesale price. Decarbonising the power system would break this link and in turn the exposure of UK electricity prices to global gas prices.
- From January 2022 to January 2023, the Ofgem energy price cap more than tripled (from £1,277 to £4,279) as a result of the spike in gas prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with bills in summer 2024 still over £400 higher than before the crisis in 2021. This required government intervention in the form of the Energy Price Guarantee, at significant cost to the taxpayer, to limit the substantial impact of this price increase on consumer bills.
The full Background Briefing Notes can be found at:
[iv] The new Energy Secretary issued this statement to his departmental staff:
‘Dear Colleagues,
Earlier today, I was delighted to accept the Prime Minister’s invitation to serve as the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero.
I wanted to write to you personally to say what an honour and a privilege it is to have been appointed to this position. I am inspired to have the chance to lead the department and work with you all.
The reason I’m so excited to have been appointed to this role is because it speaks directly to the twin passions that continue to motivate me. First, resolving the economic inequality that scars the country, and second tackling the climate crisis that imperils our world.
Our department will be at the heart of the new government’s agenda, leading one of the Prime Minister’s 5 national missions, to make Britain a clean energy superpower with zero carbon electricity by 2030, and accelerating our journey to net zero.
Families and businesses across the country are still struggling with energy bills that are too high and are expected to rise again in the autumn. In an unstable world, the only way to guarantee our energy security and cut bills permanently is to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels and towards homegrown clean energy.
The job of our department will be to deliver our mission so we can make the UK energy independent, bring down energy bills for good, create good jobs, and tackle the climate crisis.
We will get started right away, and my priorities are:
- delivering our mission to boost energy independence and cutting bills through clean power by 2030
- taking back control of our energy with Great British Energy
- upgrading Britain’s homes and cutting fuel poverty through our Warm Homes Plan
- standing up for consumers by reforming our energy system
- creating good jobs in Britain’s industrial heartlands, including a just transition for the industries based in the North Sea
- leading on international climate action, based on our domestic achievements
In line with the Prime Minister’s approach, this will be a mission-driven department, mobilising citizens, businesses, trade unions, civil society, and local government in a national effort, where everyone has a role.
Having been the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change from 2008 to 2010, arriving at the department feels like coming home. Back then, I saw first-hand the brilliant work that civil servants do and I know how hard you have worked on behalf of the country in the years since.
The Civil Service is one of Britain’s great institutions and I look forward to working with you to change our country for the better.
Yours sincerely,
Ed Miliband,
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
The statement issued by the Secretary of State can be found at:
