In a statement today, Boris Johnson pushed his successor to “go nuclear, go huge” and pledged to spend £700 million in the projected Sizewell C power plant in Suffolk.
The departing prime minister expressed his “full confidence” that the issue will be resolved in the coming weeks at what is anticipated to be his last significant address as prime minister.
Mr. Johnson cautioned that delaying the nuclear project while Russian President Vladimir Putin wrecked havoc on the world oil and gas markets would be “total folly.”
He also voiced his confidence that his successor will give up the “short-termism” that has plagued prior Government thinking on Britain’s energy security, whether it be Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak.
Before leaving Downing Street next week, Boris Johnson gave what is anticipated to be his last big address as prime minister today.
Mr. Johnson defended his three years in office by asserting that his administration “has not shied away from the tough choices, we’ve elevated our eyes, we’ve looked to the horizon.”
“Whoever follows me next week will do the same, I’m certain.”
“Let’s think about the future, let’s think about our children and our grandkids, let’s think about the next generation. No more national myopia. No more short-termism.
Go nuclear, go big, and go with Sizewell C, I say to you with the prophetic candour and clarity of one who is about to pass the gavel of authority.
Mr. Johnson lamented the fact that other nuclear plants had not yet been completed as Britons faced skyrocketing energy costs this winter, which was exacerbated worse by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He argued that the much-delayed Hinkley Point C, which is presently being built in Somerset, would be “saving fuel costs by £3 billion” if it had been “already operating” this year.
He said, “That’s why we need to take out our national finger and get on with Sizewell C.”
It is for this reason that we are investing £700 million in the transaction, only a portion of the £1.7 billion in government cash that is available for advancing a large-scale nuclear project to the final investment stage… during this Parliament.
“And over the course of the next several weeks, I am completely convinced that it will cross the finish line, and we will cross the finish line because it would be total folly not to,” he said.