Boris Johnson commits funding to Sizewell C nuclear power plant

Boris Johnson promised £700 million of funding for the Sizewell C nuclear power project as part of a drive to improve the UK's energy security.

The Prime Minister said the spike in gas prices driven by Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine showed why new nuclear generation capacity was needed in the UK.

The new reactor at the Sizewell site in Suffolk is expected to be built in partnership with energy firm EDF and could power the equivalent of about six million homes.

"We need to pull our national finger out and get on with Sizewell C," Mr Johnson said in his final major policy speech as Prime Minister.

"That's why we're putting £700 million into the deal, just part of the £1.7 billion of Government funding available for developing a large-scale nuclear project to final investment stage in this Parliament.

"In the course of the next few weeks I am absolutely confident that it will get over the line."

He said it would be "madness" not to go ahead with the project which would "fix the energy needs, not just of this generation but of the next".

Mr Johnson will leave office on Tuesday, handing power to either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak following the Tory leadership contest.

He said: "I say to you, with the prophetic candour and clarity of one who is about to hand over the torch of office, I say go nuclear and go large and go with Sizewell C."

Downing Street was unable to give further details about the funding announcement and EDF has not yet responded.

The total cost of the Sizewell C project could be around £20 billion, according to reports.

Mr Johnson, in a speech at Sizewell, said there had been a "paralysis over British nuclear energy", blaming successive governments for failing to invest in new reactors.

"Yes, nuclear always looks - when you begin - it always looks relatively expensive to build and to run," he said.

"But look at what's happening today, look at the results of Putin's war. It is certainly cheap by comparison with hydrocarbons today."

He said that if the under-construction Hinkley Point C in Somerset was operating now "it would be cutting our national fuel bills by £3 billion".

Mr Johnson also highlighted the importance of offshore wind and appeared to take aim at supporters of fracking such as Ms Truss.

He said: "Because of the activism of the Government we're now racing towards our target - we will hit it - of 50 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.

"Fifty gigawatts is a huge amount, that's roughly half the electricity consumption of this country, from offshore wind.

"I tell everybody who thinks 'hydrocarbons are the only answer, we should get fracking' and all that, offshore wind is now the cheapest form of electricity in this country. Offshore wind is nine times cheaper than gas."

Protests have been taking place against the proposed site today in Suffolk.

Members of the group Stop Sizewell C gathered with banners and posters to voice their concerns. A member who chose to remain anonymous told us: "they the government need to take the situation that were in seriously... we've had fired, homes destroyed, and now we're facing a crisis of people not being able to afford their fuel bills. Sizewell C can't achieve any solutions to these problems in any reasonable time frame. Even if you believe nuclear power is a way forward, which I personally don't".

They added " we are in a climate and ecological emergency, we have three years left to act and our government are choosing to spend taxpayers money on white elephant projects like Sizewell C instead of things that will actually help ordinary people and help the planet".

Local Resident Alex Johnson isn't opposed fundamentally to nuclear power, but told us this project will be "catastrophic" for a number of reasons.

"I think what it comes down to is the bad smell left in Downing street, when Mr Johnson leaves That bad smell is made up of twenty-billion pounds worth of debt, which is going to be hard to find any investor to cover. The more enlightened pension funds are not seeing old big infrastructure nuclear as the future. They're seeing new, innovative energy solutions around the corner as the thing to back".

"The already suffering British taxpayer who's going through a massive cost of living and energy crisis is going to be asked to foot the bill for a piece of outdated technology which will take fifteen to twenty tears to build. By the time they flick the on switch, people will sit and laugh and the extra-ordinary expense and inept decision making we're seeing here today".

"The community have this very difficult relationship that will define the next twenty years of the Suffolk coast. You have a bunch of people that believe their building sites on the sea wall will make them rich, and their houses will be worth more. You have more people who recognize that the Suffolk economy is basically based on agriculture ad tourism - both will suffer immeasurably on the back of this for the long term. No-one is going to want to spend their holiday on the biggest construction sire in Europe".

Alan Hatt is a member of the campaign who's lived in Featherton for fifty years he says the project will "destroy the area". He told us local wildlife will suffer: "it's in totally the wrong place, the levels in local water supply will be massively affected where the birds nest and breed. Fenn's meadow will be destroyed, and of course RSPB itself say many birds won't come again because of the lights and sound".

"If I could speak to Boris Johnson I'd say its vastly the wrong place!"