Meeting of the Parliament 24 June 2026 [Draft]
Costs are going up as a result of nuclear power. I also point to the delay, which, as Alan Brown rightly pointed out, is a challenge.
I should have finished what I was about to say. Liam Kerr and I are both proud to be members of the Scottish Parliament for the north-east. I congratulate Douglas Lumsden, but I would love to see him do a bit more down in Westminster for the energy sector than his party has managed to do so far. I also congratulate Lara Bird on her recent victory in a north-east constituency, where she managed to get five and a half times the size of majority that I had.
Stephen Kerr made a point about dogma and decline, but I struggle to accept that from a parliamentarian who backed Liz Truss and Boris Johnson. We must look at the reality, which is that renewables are where our future lies.
I want to reach as many members’ points as I possibly can. Paul Sweeney talked about the smaller plants, but they still have the same challenges with waste and cost. I point to France, which has nuclear plants that are struggling with weather constraints at the moment due to the heat. [Interruption.] I want to make progress, given the time, but I will try to swing back to the member later.
Tim Eagle talked about Dounreay and also the weather. I return to the challenges in France—for example, Saint-Alban on the Rhône is having challenges because of the weather.
Miles Briggs talked about parties getting entrenched. Yes, that can be the case, given that European security is such an important issue and the climate emergency is pivotal. However, I am glad that the Conservatives at least acknowledge the climate emergency. Miles Briggs comes from a party that has seen £400 billion from our oil and gas industry, but we are one of the few countries not to have a future generations fund as a result of oil and gas. Then there is the energy profits levy, and the transmission network use of system charge is also having a significant impact.
That takes me to David Green, whom I come to for two reasons. The first is the work on decommissioning at Dounreay, which he is right to highlight. I thank the workers there who are conducting that work, but the plant closed in 1994, and work is due to go on there until the 2070s—and full decontamination will take another 300 years. Therefore, there is plenty of work going on there, but maybe not for all the reasons that we want.
Secondly, just across the water, we see some issues around the west of Orkney in bringing those offshore wind farms on board, which David Green and his colleagues have highlighted. Hinkley took a long time—[Interruption.] I am going to conclude now. Hinkley was due to be completed in 2025, but we keep seeing that date going back.
The case is straightforward: Scotland wants to be part of the solution in relation to European energy security. Nuclear is wasteful and expensive, and given that we have so much potential in renewables, including exporting them, and there is such a massive market for our expertise and our resource, this Government continues to back that technology.