Keir Starmer on a visit to Lancashire following a nulcear announement (Image: Getty)
Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants to “build, baby, build” while vowing to take on the “blockers” holding up development.
The Prime Minister channelled when he accused NIMBYS of strangling the UK’s chances of cheaper energy which risks leaving the nation “hostage” to .
Sir Keir was asked: “President Trump says drill, baby, drill. Does say build, baby, build?”
The PM responded: “I say build, baby, build. I say we’re going to take on the blockers so we can build… we’re already changing the rules on planning to make sure infrastructure (can be built) more quickly.”
Sir Keir and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband announced more nuclear power plants will be approved across England and Wales as red tape will be “slashed” during a visit to Lancashire today.
The reforms will clear a path for so-called small modular reactors (SMRs) to be built for the first time in the UK which ministers said would help to deliver clean, secure and more affordable energy.
Under moves announced today, mini-nuclear power stations will be included in planning rules for the first time and a set list of eight sites where they can only be built will be scrapped.
The expiry date on nuclear planning rules will be scrapped, and a Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce will be established.
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Sir Keir said: “For too long, the blockers and Nimbys have strangled our chances of cheaper energy, growth and jobs, leaving us hostage to Putin.
“I’m putting an end to it. We are changing the rules on nuclear to deliver cleaner, more affordable energy across the UK.”
Energy minister Michael Shanks insisted communities “will still absolutely have a voice” in any planning processes for building new nuclear reactors.
Sir Keir said nuclear power will be prioritised in the spending review, describing reforms to planning as a “gamechanger” for the sector.
But Labour donor and green industrialist Dale Vince said: “We keep hearing that small modular reactors will be cheaper than the big ones and they’ll bring our energy bills down – but no-one, no-one at all, ever tells us what the price of the energy will be, the Government and the industry just don’t say.
“You have to wonder why – if they’re definitely cheaper and will bring bills down, then give us the numbers.”
Ministers said the UK has been left lagging behind in the global race for cleaner, more affordable energy after years of delay and obstruction, with the last nuclear power station built in 1995.
Conservative shadow energy secretary Andrew Bowie said it was “about time that Labour started to follow our lead in recognising the benefits of stable, reliable, baseload nuclear power”.
He added: “But it’s little comfort when Ed’s ideological approach to energy is sending bills through the roof, British jobs abroad, and denying billions of pounds of investment into Britain.
“He is caving in to the demands of Just Stop Oil by not supporting British industry with Rosebank and Jackdaw, and the man running his taxpayer-funded £8 billion vanity project refuses to say when it will deliver the new jobs Ed [Miliband] promised.”