Sam Dumitriu is Head of Policy at Britain Remade.
On the Isle of Anglesey in North Wales sits Wylfa nuclear power station. For 44 years, until its final reactor closed in December 2015, it provided over a thousand well-paid jobs and clean, reliable energy. At its peak, it generated almost half the electricity in Wales. If there’s one thing the locals want more than
Sit on a roundtable of small businesses – as I have on many occasions – and it won’t be long before the topic shifts to the maddening number of rules and regulations that companies have to comply with if they want to sell to government. At one point, vendors are asked about employing ‘people seeking
Philosophers have debated the concept of ‘fairness’ for centuries. Intellectual heavyweights like Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, and Aristotle have all had their say. They need not have bothered. The world finally has a definitive answer and it has come from the most unlikely of places: the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s ‘Review of
When Putin attacked Ukraine and sent global gas prices soaring, Boris Johnson set out a plan to make Britain energy secure. It included a target to quadruple the amount of power Britain gets from nuclear. Instead of one plant every decade (if you’re lucky), Britain would start building a new plant every year just as
Just outside Dunbar, a short drive from Edinburgh, sits Torness nuclear power station. In its 40 or so years of operation, it has produced more than 300 terawatts hours of zero-carbon electricity – enough to power every single home in Scotland for 36 years. Torness was set to close in three years, but received a
Why do we allow our public spaces to be taken over by chuggers? Whenever I exit my office above Charing Cross station in search of lunch, I am immediately confronted by no fewer than three charity muggers – each decked out in a garish uniform promoting whichever charity they are being paid for that day.
Britain used to be good at building nuclear power stations. Really good. We built the world’s first – and then another ten within a decade for good measure. As late as 1965, Britain had more nuclear power stations than the rest of the world combined. Britain used to be good at building nuclear power stations.
As late as 1965, Britain had more operational nuclear reactors than the rest of the world combined. Yet, Britain hasn’t built a new nuclear reactor in almost 30 years. France and South Korea now standout as the world leaders in building nuclear power stations. Indeed, when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining,
The funny thing about nuclear power stations is that few places actively want one, but almost anywhere that’s lost one is desperate to bring it back. When I visited the island of Anglesey, or Ynys Môn, last year I was struck by how much people wanted a new nuclear power station to replace the recently
For over 20 years, Britain effectively gave up on building new nuclear power stations. But that’s changed now Hinkley Point C in Somerset is under construction. When completed it will provide around 7 per cent of the UK’s electricity. Hinkley Point C is set to be the most expensive nuclear power station ever built. In fact, it
The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that the government will spend (read: borrow) £43 billion this year to keep the average household’s energy bill at £2,500. Without the Energy Price Guarantee, bills would have hit an eye-watering £4,279 in January. It is certainly true that the blame for this bleak state of affairs should fall squarely
When I read about Michael Gove’s plans to abolish VAT and replace it with a US-style Sales Tax, I thought: “Is he on drugs?” Gove’s views on experts have often been misrepresented. His infamous attack was aimed at a subset who haven’t been held accountable for failed predictions, not on the very idea of expertise. In fact, his
