Government announce Anglesey as preferred site of new nuclear power station
Wylfa in North Wales is the preferred site for a major new nuclear power development, the government has announced.
Ministers are beginning talks with international energy firms to explore building the UK’s third mega-nuclear power station at the Anglesey site, according to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).
The department said the gigawatt nuclear power plant could provide enough clean power for six million homes for 60 years.
Britain has a target of generating a quarter of all electricity – around 24GW – from home-grown nuclear power by 2050.
The aim is part of the government’s plan to enhance energy security and deliver on net zero.
Currently, the UK generates about 15% of its electricity needs from nuclear capacity.
The Wylfa project could be similar in scale to Hinkley in Somerset and Sizewell in Suffolk, with hopes it would bring thousands of jobs and investment to the area.
Labour has accused the government of “dither and delay” on new nuclear at Wylfa, after Japanese giant Hitachi pulled out of a previous project there in 2019 because of rising costs.
Wylfa’s twin reactor Magnox nuclear power station, which went online in 1971, stopped generating power at the end of 2015 and has been decommissioned.
Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said: “Anglesey has a proud nuclear history and it is only right that, once again, it can play a central role in boosting the UK’s energy security.
“Wylfa would not only bring clean, reliable power to millions of homes – it could create thousands of well-paid jobs and bring investment to the whole of North Wales.”
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The UK is working to expand nuclear power through traditional large-scale plants as well as small modular reactors (SMRs), which supporters hope will be quicker and cheaper to construct.
Great British Nuclear aims to announce winning bidders in the tendering process to build SMRs by the end of this year.
But this is later than the spring timetable the government set last October for announcing the successful companies.
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Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said the government is “absolutely right” to pursue more large-scale nuclear alongside the SMR programme.
He said: “Wylfa is the best site in Europe for a big nuclear project: It has an existing grid connection, the hard bedrock ideal for a nuclear power station, superior cooling water access, and some work to clear the site for large-scale construction was already done by the previous developer.”
Labour’s shadow energy minister Alan Whitehead said: “We welcome the government finally moving forward with a nuclear project identified by the last Labour government.
“But this should be the bare minimum – and celebrating a tentative step forward in 2024 on a project that should have been moving in 2010 tells you everything about this tired, snail’s-pace government.”
The UK’s jobless rate ticked up to 4.6% in April while payrolled employment has fallen sharply since, according to official figures covering the period when budget tax hikes on businesses came into effect.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the new unemployment rate covering the three months to April was the highest since July 2021.
It had previously stood at 4.5% – a total of more than 1.6 million people.
At 4.6%, it is above the peak level predicted for this year, just in March, by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
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Figures from the taxman also highlighted by the ONS showed the number of people in payrolled employment during May fell by 109,000 – double April’s revised figure of 55,000 and the biggest monthly drop in five years.
The ONS Labour Force Survey data was the first to cover April’s rises in employer national insurance contributions and the national living wage – hikes to costs for businesses which lobby groups had warned would result in job losses, price rises and lower wage settlements.
The ONS figures showed average weekly earnings, excluding the effects of bonuses, over the three months to April were weaker, from a downwardly revised 5.5% to 5.2% year on year.
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Liz McKeown, ONS director of economic statistics, said: “There continues to be weakening in the labour market, with the number of people on payroll falling notably.
“Feedback from our vacancies survey suggests some firms may be holding back from recruiting new workers or replacing people when they move on.”
The ONS data piles more pressure on Chancellor Rachel Reeves, just a day after she confirmed her winter fuel U-turn would cost £1.25bn.
She has consistently defenced her budget, arguing the taxes on business were a one-off necessary evil to account for a £22bn “black hole” in the public finances inherited from the last government.
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Employment minister Alison McGovern said in response to the data: “Six months after we launched Get Britain Working, we are already seeing the benefits with economic activity at a record high, with 500,000 more people in employment since we entered office and real wages growing more since July than in the decade after 2010.
“People all over the country are benefiting from increased training opportunities and the newly launched Jobs and Careers Service will allow us to test new and innovative approaches to personalise employment support.”
Despite the wage figure easing, that 5.2% level remains comfortably ahead of the 3.5% rate of the pace of price growth – inflation.
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The curb to consumer spending power will be welcomed by the Bank of England as its rate-setters continue to fret that strong wage growth represents an inflation risk ahead.
The ONS figures did little to boost financial market expectations of a further rate cut next month.
LSEG data showed 90% of market participants believed there would be no no change – with just one further cut this year being fully priced in.
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