Suffolk must make use of the huge opportunity a new nuclear power station offers
3 min read
On the Suffolk coast lies a blueprint for the future of Britain: Sizewell C.
Situated next door to the last nuclear power station built in the UK, which was built three decades ago, it is a symbol of the choices we have made as a country but also of our potential.
We have failed to complete a new nuclear station since 1995. Unlike many of our European counterparts, our energy security has become reliant on expensive, and carbon-intensive, gas which is driving up our energy bills.
Sizewell C will set Britain on a different course. Once operational, it will supply energy to an estimated six million homes. Combined with Sizewell B, the station will provide nearly 10% of the entire country’s energy demand. This is a flagship project in our nuclear moment alongside Hinkley Point C and a raft of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), the first ever to be built in Britain.
Whether it is future-proofing our energy system or boosting our national security, the delivery of Sizewell C is not just a necessity, but a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Ipswich and Suffolk: one we have to seize.
That is why, last Autumn, I negotiated and signed an agreement with Sizewell C that will deliver at least 500 jobs for people in my constituency during the construction of the new plant – a period that will last at least a decade.
Yet, a pledge of jobs means little unless we give people the skills to fill them, which is why my agreement also builds on support for our town’s colleges and university. For example, Suffolk New College - which already boasts a Net Zero Skills Centre - will see an expansion of their courses in engineering, welding, and fabrication.
The deal will also support the development of a Welding Centre of Excellence, scope the development of an Electrical Engineering Centre of Excellence, and look to establish a Regional Construction Skills Roadshow.
The agreement I signed also includes hosting two jobs fairs every year. The first, organised by Sizewell C in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions, and hosted at the University of Suffolk in March, attracted hundreds of people.
With one in eight young people out of education, training, or work, these investments are not simply gimmicks. They offer people secure, skilled, well-paid employment and offer our town, and county, a new future.
It is not just direct employment up for grabs, either. At peak construction, Sizewell C will support 8,000 jobs, with around a third coming from the local area. Arguably, the real prize on offer is the supply chain feeding into Europe’s largest construction project. Get this right, and the multi-billion-pound investments flowing out of this project will translate into the employment of around 70,000 people across the country.
I want local businesses to receive a very large slice of that pie, and £45 million worth of contracts have already been awarded to Ipswich-based firms. The Sizewell C Supply Chain and Suffolk Chamber of Commerce are also embedded within the University of Suffolk, bringing together business and education all under one roof.
This is just the start of something special. Sizewell C is merely a symbol of what we could achieve; the catalyst to a brighter future. Through leadership and vision, we can become a hub of activity across nuclear, wind and solar; delivering jobs, investment and growth. This could be a new golden age for our local area that will last for decades.
Under Labour, Britain is on course to become a clean energy superpower and I want Ipswich and Suffolk to be its beating heart.
