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The UK is one step closer to a new nuclear power plant after the government announced a further £14.2bn in funding.

Sizewell C, near the town of Leiston on the Suffolk coast, is due to be up and running by the mid-2030s.

While the government claims the new facility represents a “golden age of clean energy” and says it will create thousands of jobs – those against it warn of the catastrophic consequences of a nuclear accident and damage to the local environment.

Here we look at what is due to be built at the Sizewell site – and why the project is so controversial.

What is Sizewell C?

The new site will house two nuclear reactors – generating up to 3.2 gigawatts of electricity, which is enough to power six million homes.

The government says it could meet 7% of the country’s total energy needs for up to 60 years.

It was initially proposed by the French energy company EDF and China’s General Nuclear Power Group, but the previous government bought the Chinese company out of its 20% stake in 2022.

Together, the UK government and EDF now own 83.5% of the site.

It is located near Sizewell beach – next to Sizewell A, a decommissioned nuclear site that opened in 1967, and Sizewell B, which is still running – and was the last nuclear site to open in the UK in 1995.

The proposed new plant heads up a raft of new clean energy measures. Pic: EDF
Image:
The proposed new plant heads up a raft of new clean energy measures. Pic: EDF

Sizewell C site CGI

Previous funding announcements mean the state has now invested a total of £17.8bn, with a final funding model due to be released this summer after private investors are secured to bridge the gap to the total £20bn cost.

Taxpayer money is expected to contribute £700m.

A map shows Sizewell in Suffolk in the east of England
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Sizewell in Suffolk in the east of England

How long has it been in the making?

The project dates back to 2008, when then Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared the UK needed to boost its nuclear capacity.

There are four nuclear sites running in the UK – at Heysham, Hartlepool, Torness, and Sizewell B.

In 2010, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition earmarked Sizewell as a potential new site.

EDF began consulting with locals in the area in 2012, finally submitting its development consent order in May 2020.

A cyclist travels away from Sizewell A and B power stations in Suffolk
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The Sizewell A and B power stations in Suffolk. Pic: Reuters

It was granted in July 2022 despite the Planning Inspectorate’s recommendations it should be blocked over environmental concerns.

It also fought off a judicial review at the Court of Appeal brought by protest group Together Against Sizewell C.

Construction by EDF is due to start in the next year – and is set to take between nine and 12 years.

A man walks along the Suffolk coast with the Sizewell B nuclear power station on the horizon
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The Suffolk Coast with Sizewell B in the background. Pic: Reuters

Why are people against it?

Two campaign groups – Together Against Sizewell C and Stop Sizewell C – have spearheaded efforts to block the site.

Locally, they say construction will damage 150 hectares of land nearby, which is home to two different nature reserves and thousands of birds, animals, and plant species. The appeal also cited concerns it would compromise local water supplies and may run over budget or fail to even get off the ground like the now-scrapped HS2 trainline.

More generally, nuclear power is very controversial.

Read more: Government announces £14.2bn Sizewell funding

While it does not produce carbon emissions like traditional fossil fuels, any nuclear activity is exceedingly high-risk.

Nuclear fission is the process by which uranium atoms are broken down into smaller particles to produce heat, which is then boiled to create steam that powers turbines to create electricity.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says all its regulated sites are the “safest and most secure facilities in the world” and subject to strict independent safety measures.

But high-profile nuclear accidents, although incredibly rare, have leaked deadly radiation into the atmosphere, killing people and likely poisoning others for generations to come.

These include the explosion at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine in 1986 and the partial meltdown of one of the reactors at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan following a tsunami in 2011.

Nuclear fission also produces huge amounts of radioactive waste, which has to be safely stored for hundreds of years and anti-nuclear campaigners worry about the safety of these storage sites.

Together Against Sizewell C campaigners outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London in 2023. Pic: PA
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Together Against Sizewell C campaigners outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London in 2023. Pic: PA

What are the arguments for it?

The government wants to use nuclear energy to help meet its target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association Tom Greatrex has described Sizewell C as a “huge step forward” both for net zero – and energy security.

The Ukraine war compromised global gas and oil supplies, much of which came from Russia, sending prices rocketing.

Since then, Ukraine’s Western allies have made efforts to become more autonomous with energy production.

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Britain’s nuclear sector grew by a quarter to £20bn in the three years to 2024, with another site at Hinkley Point in Somerset currently under construction.

Some countries, like France, where EDF is based, already rely heavily on nuclear power.

Sizewell C will also create 10,000 new jobs and 1,500 apprenticeships, boosting the local and UK economy.

Around £330m has been tendered to local companies in contracts, with 70% of all those commissioned going to 3,500 British suppliers.

Mr Greatex said: “Sizewell C will provide reliable low-carbon power for more than 80 years, cutting gas use, creating thousands of high-quality skilled jobs, and long-term investment and opportunity up and down the country.”

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How did your MP vote on Labour’s welfare bill?

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How did your MP vote on Labour's welfare bill?

Labour’s welfare reforms bill has passed, with 335 MPs voting in favour and 260 against.

It came after the government watered down the bill earlier this evening, making a dramatic last-minute concession to the demands of would-be rebel MPs who were concerned about the damage the policy would do to disabled people.

The concessions could end up leaving the government with £5.5bn to make up from either tax rises or cuts elsewhere.

See how your MP voted with our lookup:

The government has a working majority of 166, so it would have taken 84 rebels to defeat the bill.

In total, 49 Labour MPs still voted against the bill despite the concessions. No MPs from other parties voted alongside the government, although three MPs elected for Labour who have since had the whip removed did so.

Which Labour MPs rebelled?

Last week, 127 Labour MPs signed what they called a “reasoned amendment”, a letter stating their objection to the bill as it was.

The government responded with some concessions to try and win back the rebels, which was enough to convince some of them. But they were still ultimately forced to make more changes today.

In total, 68 MPs who signed the initial “reasoned amendment” eventually voted in favour of the bill.

Nine in 10 MPs elected for the first time at the 2024 general election voted with the government.

That compares with fewer than three quarters of MPs who were voted in before that.

A total of 42 Labour MPs also voted in favour of an amendment that would have stopped the bill from even going to a vote at all. That was voted down by 328 votes to 149.

How does the rebellion compare historically?

If the wording of the bill had remained unchanged and 127 MPs or more had voted against it on Tuesday, it would have been up there as one of the biggest rebellions in British parliamentary history.

As it happened, it was still higher than the largest recorded during Tony Blair’s first year as PM, when 47 of his Labour colleagues (including Diane Abbott, John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn, who also voted against the bill on Tuesday) voted no to his plan to cut benefits for single-parent families.

Follow more updates live on the Sky News Politics Hub.


The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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Ryland Headley: Man, 92, who raped and murdered Louisa Dunne in Bristol nearly 60 years ago, jailed for life

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Ryland Headley: Man, 92, who raped and murdered Louisa Dunne in Bristol nearly 60 years ago, jailed for life

A 92-year-old man has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 20 years in prison for the rape and murder of an elderly widow nearly 60 years ago.

Ryland Headley was found guilty on Monday of killing 75-year-old Louisa Dunne at her Bristol home in June 1967, in what is thought to be the UK’s longest cold case to reach trial, and has been told by the judge he “will die in prison”.

The mother-of-two’s body was found by neighbours after Headley, then a 34-year-old railway worker, forced his way inside the terraced house in the Easton area before attacking her.

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The UK’s longest cold case to reach trial

Police found traces of semen and a palm print on one of the rear windows inside the house – but it was about 20 years before DNA testing.

The case remained unsolved for more than 50 years until Avon and Somerset detectives sent off items from the original investigation and found a DNA match to Headley.

He had moved to Suffolk after the murder and served a prison sentence for raping two elderly women in 1977.

Prosecutors said the convictions showed he had a “tendency” to break into people’s homes at night and, in some cases, “target an elderly woman living alone, to have sex with her despite her attempts to fend him off, and to threaten violence”.

Louisa Parker (later Dunne) in 1933. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
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Louisa Dunne in 1933. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Headley during his arrest. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
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Headley during his arrest. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Headley, from Ipswich, who did not give evidence, denied raping and murdering Ms Dunne, but was found guilty of both charges after a trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Detectives said forces across the country are investigating whether Headley could be linked to other unsolved crimes.

Mrs Dunne’s granddaughter, Mary Dainton, who was 20 when her relative was killed, told the court that her murder “had a big impact on my mother, my aunt and her family.

“I don’t think my mother ever recovered from it. The anxiety caused by her mother’s brutal rape and murder clouded the rest of her life.

“The fact the offender wasn’t caught caused my mother to become and remain very ill.

“When people found out about the murder, they withdrew from us. In my experience, there is a stigma attached to rape and murder.”

The front of Louisa Dunne's home. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
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The front of Louisa Dunne’s home. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Louisa Dunne's skirt. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
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Louisa Dunne’s skirt. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary

Finding out her grandmother’s killer had been caught after almost six decades “turned my life upside down,” she said.

“I feel sad and very tired, which has affected the relationships I have with those close to me. I didn’t expect to deal with something of such emotional significance at this stage of my life.

“It saddens me deeply that all the people who knew and loved Louisa are not here to see that justice has been done.”

Palmprint images. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Image:
Palmprint images. Pic: Avon and Somerset Constabulary

After her statement, Mr Justice Sweeting told Mrs Dainton: “It is not easy to talk about matters like this in public.

“Thank you very much for doing it in such a clear and dignified way.”

The judge told Headley his crimes showed “a complete disregard for human life and dignity.

“Mrs Dunne was vulnerable, she was a small elderly woman living alone. You treated her as a means to an end.

“The violation of her home, her body and ultimately her life was a pitiless and cruel act by a depraved man.

“She must have experienced considerable pain and fear before her death,” he said.

Sentencing Headley to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years, the judge told him: “You will never be released, you will die in prison.”

Detective Inspector Dave Marchant of Avon and Somerset Police said Headley was “finally facing justice for the horrific crimes he committed against Louisa in 1967.

“The impact of this crime has cast a long shadow over the city and in particular Louisa’s family, who have had to deal with the sadness and trauma ever since.”

The officer praised Ms Dainton’s “resilience and courage” during what he called a “unique” case and thanked investigators from his own force, as well as South West Forensics, detectives from Suffolk Constabulary, the National Crime Agency and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

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Charlotte Ream, of the CPS, described Headley’s crimes as “appalling”.

She said Louisa Dunne “died in a horrifying attack carried out in the place where she should have felt safest – her own home.

“Mrs Dunne’s death continues to have a traumatic impact on her family members: the passage of time has not lessened their pain.

“For 58 years, this appalling crime went unsolved and Ryland Headley, the man we now know is responsible, avoided justice.”

Jeremy Benson KC, defending Headley, offered no personal mitigation on behalf of the defendant.

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Three members of Lucy Letby hospital’s senior leadership team arrested

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Three members of Lucy Letby hospital's senior leadership team arrested

Three managers at the hospital where Lucy Letby worked have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

They were in senior roles at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 2015 and 2016 and have been bailed pending further enquiries, Cheshire Constabulary said. Their names have not been made public.

Letby, 35, was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the hospital’s neonatal unit.

Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes explained that gross negligent manslaughter focuses on the “action or inaction of individuals”.

There is also an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the hospital, which began in October 2023.

That focuses on “senior leadership and their decision-making”, Mr Hughes said. The intention there is to determine whether any “criminality has taken place concerning the response to the increased levels of fatalities”.

The scope was widened to include gross negligence manslaughter in March of this year.

lucy letby
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Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more

Mr Hughes said it is “important to note” that this latest development “does not impact on the convictions of Lucy Letby for multiple offences of murder and attempted murder”.

He added: “Both the corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter elements of the investigation are continuing and there are no set timescales for these.

“Our investigation into the deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neo-natal units of both the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital between the period of 2012 to 2016 is also ongoing.”

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A public inquiry has also been examining the hospital’s response to concerns raised about Letby before her arrest.

In May, it was announced the inquiry’s final report into how the former nurse was able to commit her crimes will now be published early next year.

Earlier this year, lawyers for Lucy Letby called for the suspension of the inquiry, claiming there was “overwhelming and compelling evidence” that her convictions were unsafe.

In February, an international panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists told reporters that poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the collapses and deaths.

Their evidence has been passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and Letby’s legal team hopes her case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal.

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