Energy Minister: Nuclear staff can stay after Brexit
NUCLEAR engineers from the European Union should be allowed to come to work in the UK after Brexit, Energy Secretary Greg Clark said last week. But he is not prepared to offer a similar welcome to power station construction workers.
Clark outlined his support for ‘highly qualified’ people coming from the EU to work on power stations such as Hinkley Point C in Somerset, which is under construction, while appearing in front of the Business Select Committee at the Commons last week.
He told chairman Iain Wright: ‘Hinkley Point is an international collaboration that will i nclude highly qualified engineers from lots of different countries and it is very important that they should be able to bring their expertise to bear. It is obviously in everyone’s interests.’
Hinkley Point is the £18 billion nuclear power station being built by EDF of France. The project is being heavily subsidised by the British taxpayer after the Government agreed to allow EDF to charge a fixed price for electricity which is about double the current wholesale price.
However, when Wright, a Labour MP, asked whether he thought the same leeway should be granted to construction workers who come to the UK to build power stations, Clark was less forthcoming.
‘At this point, that is getting too detailed, too specific,’ he said.
Senior figures in the industry have previously highlighted Britain’s lack of nuclear engineering skills. The then boss of nuclear power firm Westinghouse, Danny Roderick, warned of a shortage of British nuclear engineers three years ago. He described it as ‘a real problem which will lead us to having to go outside the country to get engineering support’.
Clark also told the Committee that the Government’s response to high energy prices would be ‘muscular’ and that the regulatory environment was not adequate.
The Government had been understood to be preparing to announce the imposition of energy price caps after Prime Minister Theresa May severely criticised the energy industry. However, the General Election is likely to delay action.