Related: Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss ‘saying nothing’ to tackle cost of living crisis, Labour MP says
Boris Johnson has promised £700m of funding to get the much-delayed Sizewell C nuclear power project into operation as part of a drive to improve the UK’s energy security.
In his final major policy speech as prime minister, Mr Johnson said the spike in gas prices driven by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine showed why the UK needed new nuclear-generation capacity.
The new Suffolk reactor could power the equivalent of about six million homes and would provide tens of thousands of jobs, he said, and it would be “madness” not to go ahead with it.
“In the course of the next few weeks I am absolutely confident that it will get over the line,” he added during a visit to the site.
Lamenting the UK’s failure to build new nuclear power stations, he blamed “myopia” - politicians not being able to see beyond the political cycle, as he took a swipe at Labour and the Lib Dems for not having built any while in power.
And in what is seen as a veiled put-down of Liz Truss, he cast doubt on fracking.
Earlier, chancellor Nadhim Zahawi said he was deeply concerned people could freeze this winter as energy bills skyrocket, admitting government help with the cost of living was not enough and insisting “nothing is off the table”.
