In a statement today, Boris Johnson pushed his successor to “go nuclear, go huge” and pledged to spend £700 million in the projected Sizewell C power plant in Suffolk.
In his last big policy address as Prime Minister, the departing premier said he was ‘very convinced it will cross over the line’ in the next few weeks.
Mr. Johnson cautioned that delaying the nuclear project while Russian President Vladimir Putin wrecks havoc on the world oil and gas markets would be “total folly.”
He stated his hope that his successor, whether Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak, will give up the “myopia” and “short-termism” that have impeded prior Government thinking on Britain’s energy security.
The Prime Minister also attacked Additional Labour’s track record of bringing new nuclear power to Britain, saying that during their 13 years in office, they accomplished “absolutely nothing.”
He added, “Thanks a ton Tony and thanks a ton Gordon,” while also criticizing former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg for opposing new nuclear power plants.
Despite fierce local resistance, the Sizewell C project is still moving forward. Mr. Johnson, though, called the demonstrations that were taking place outside the venue where he was speaking “simply nimbyism.”
The adjoining Minsmere nature reserve, where some of Britain’s rarest species have only managed to escape extinction by thriving on the reedbeds, has received a ‘catastrophic’ warning from the RSPB.
The criticism of Mr. Johnson’s “hollow statements” on investments in energy projects came from both Labour and the Liberal Democrats.
They said that the present cost-of-living issue was caused by the Tories’ “appalling legacy” on renewable energy during their 12-year rule.
The £700 million investment in Sizewell C, according to environmental activists, could instead be used to insulate “vast numbers of draughty houses” around Britain, lowering energy costs in the next year.
Boris Johnson today delivered what is likely have been his final major policy speech as Prime Minister before he departs Downing Street next week
The PM made a visit to EDF’s existing nuclear power station in Sizewell, Suffolk, as he continued his farwell tour of Britain before leaving Downing Street
The new nuclear power station is planned for the same site as the existing Sizewell C on the Suffolk coast. The PM today promised a £700million investment in the project
The PM warned it would be ‘absolute madness’ not to push ahead with the Sizewell C nuclear project as Russian President Vladimir Putin wreaks havoc with global oil and gas markets
Mr Johnson’s funding announcement for Sizewell C – made as he continues a farwell tour of Britain during his final days in office – will be viewed as an effort to add to his legacy from his time in Number 10.
In a defence of his three years in power, the PM pointed to his Government’s attempts to improve broadband access, develop railways and to overhaul social care.
He said: ‘This Government has not shirked the big decisions, we’ve raised our eyes, we’ve looked to the horizon.
‘Whoever follows me next week I know that they will do the same.
‘No more national myopia, no more short-termism, let’s think about the future, let’s think about our kids and our grandchildren, about the next generation.
‘I say to you with the prophetic candour and clarity with one who is about to hand over the torch of office, I say: Go nuclear, go large and go with Sizewell C.’
With Britons facing soaring energy prices this winter – in a crisis made worse by Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine – Mr Johnson bemoaned how other nuclear projects had not already been delivered.
He insisted that if the much-delayed Hinkley Point C – currently being constructed in Somerset – had been ‘already running’ this year, it would be ‘cutting fuel bills by £3billion’.
‘That’s why we need to pull our national finger out and get on with Sizewell C,’ he added.
‘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.
‘And in the course of the next few weeks, I am absolutely confident that it will get over the line, and we will get it over the line because it would be absolute madness not to.’
Mr Johnson noted how France had built four more nuclear power stations since 1995, India had added 12, and China had more than 50 additional reactors.
Over the same period – since Sizewell B became the fifth UK reactor to be completed in seven years – the PM bemoaned how Britain had constructed none.
‘How many new nuclear power stations have we built in the 27 years since?,’ he asked.
‘How many have been connected to the grid? How many slices of bread could we toast with the additional nuclear power we have created?
‘How many washing machines could we power? How many families have been helped with extra nuclear energy?
‘The answer is, none, zero, zilch.’
Mr Johnson warned Mr Putin he was ‘wrong’ to think that Western countries would again be ‘mainlining his hydrocarbons’ in the near-future, as he accused the Russian President of a ‘kamikaze’ attack on the world economy.
‘He doesn’t care how much pain Russia suffers,’ the PM said.
‘He believes that ultimately we will flinch, that Western politicians do not have the stomach for the fight.
‘He believes that we will give up on Ukraine, give in to his aggression and go back to mainlining his hydrocarbons. And I have to tell you he is wrong.’
The PM urged critics to ‘beware of the false economy’ on nuclear power.
‘I remember when the Government finally did the deal on Hinkley C – in fact by then I was already sitting in the Cabinet,’ he added.
‘I remember some people protesting that the strike price of £92.50 per kilowatt hour was very, very expensive. It doesn’t look so expensive today.’
Mr Johnson also appeared to take a swipe at Ms Truss, who is widely expected to replace him as PM next week, after the Foreign Secretary recently vowed to overturn his ban on fracking if she takes office.
He said: ‘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 because of the insanity of what Putin has done.’
The PM later insisted he was not ‘morally’ opposed to fracking but added he was ‘slightly dubious it will prove to be a panacea’.
‘I would much rather that we focused on the things where we are brilliant and where the environmental damage is really minimal, like offshore wind,’ he said.
The Sizewell C project is being pursued in the face of stiff local opposition with the RSPB warning it could be ‘catastrophic’ for wildlife at the nearby Minsmere nature reserve
Some of Britain’s rarest birds have only avoided extinction by surviving in the reedbeds at the RSPB’s Minsmere nature reserve
The PM warned that a pledge by Liz Truss, who is widely expected to be his successor, to overturn his ban on fracking would not ‘prove to be a panacea’ to the energy crisis
Former Labour leader Ed Miliband, now the party’s shadow climate change secretary, said: ‘Boris Johnson’s hollow words are an insult to the millions of families that are facing an energy bills crisis.
‘Whilst the oil and gas giants rake in record profits, Boris Johnson and his zombie government put their interests ahead of the British people.
‘And one of the reasons bills are so high is the appalling legacy this government has on clean power.
‘They blocked onshore wind, failed to deliver a warm homes plan to cut bills, and delayed on expanding solar and nuclear power.’
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey claimed Mr Johnson’s speech would ‘anger many people who know it is his Government that has failed to invest in cheap green energy’.
‘Under the Conservatives, the UK renewables industry has been neglected to the point where coal power stations are being fired up,’ he added.
‘The country has been left overly reliant on gas, worsening the crisis we are now facing which is hitting families in the pocket.’
Greenpeace UK’s chief scientist Doug Parr said the £700million announced for Sizewell C ‘could insulate huge numbers of draughty homes, and cut next year’s bills’.
He added: ‘The contrast between these lumbering white elephants and the dynamic, cost-cutting, innovative technologies in the renewables sector could barely be more striking.
‘While this down-payment on failure shows the Government hasn’t noticed, the market has, and investors have fled the nuclear sector.
‘To get Sizewell done, the Government would have to step in and add the enormous costs of building reactors to the enormous costs consumers are already paying for their electricity.’