THE MP for Barrow and Furness has endorsed Parliamentarians’ plan for major investment in new nuclear power stations to cut emissions and to preserve the UK’s world-class nuclear skills base.

The plan, Net Zero Needs Nuclear: A Roadmap to 2024 by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Nuclear Energy, sets out the decisions the Government must take by 2024 to restore UK nuclear capacity to at least 10 GW by the early 2030s.

The APPG has called for the Government to create a new nuclear financing model this year, approve two large-scale nuclear projects by 2024, and establish the framework for deploying new Small Modular Reactors (AMRs) across the UK, among other steps.

Barrow MP Simon Fell asked the Business Secretary about this issue last month in Parliament and was told that the model would be ‘coming soon’.

Commenting, Mr Fell said: “I am delighted to endorse the Roadmap to 2024.

"Nuclear energy is absolutely essential for our economic prosperity and our climate goals.

"Here in Cumbria, the industry employs 14,253 people, and with the new investment set out in the Roadmap, we can secure jobs and cut carbon for generations to come.”

These investments would save around 30 million tonnes of emission per year by 2035 and create more than 90,000 jobs in the UK. Nuclear jobs are already among the most skilled and well-paid in the country, with an average GVA per worker of almost £100,000.