Nuclear salesman

North Somerset MP Liam Fox gave a keynote speak at a Civil Nuclear Showcase this week.
The Secretary of State for International Trade told his audience at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel it was the first year he had addressed them under the auspices of the newly created Department for International Trade although the government event has been staged for the past six years.
He said: “More than 20 nuclear markets are represented here today - a reflection of the truly global nature of the nuclear sector.
“This showcase is, fundamentally, about building those commercial ties and business relationships that will empower the global nuclear industry far into the future.
“There are 447 commercial reactors operating in 31 countries across the world, meeting around 11 per cent of global electricity demand.
“Yet this is only the beginning - there are currently another 60 reactors under construction, and plans for many more.
“During the next 20 years, it is estimated that more than £930 billion will be spent expanding global nuclear capacity.”
Dr Fox talked about the ‘pivotal role’ the UK has in the future of nuclear power with its 65,000 plus skilled workforce and years of expertise.
He said: “We are a nation with a strong nuclear heritage. 
“As the first country on earth to develop and safely operate commercial nuclear power stations, our industry draws upon over 60 years of accumulated knowledge and expertise including involvement in the clean-up of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.
“With no domestic reactor vendor of our own, UK companies are uniquely placed to offer impartial support, advice and assistance to our international partners.
“Already, nuclear industries across the world, from China to the Czech Republic, are seeing the benefits of our industry-leading support.
“As well as supporting new build programmes and through-life support, British companies also export their waste management and decommissioning expertise around the world. 
“Our domestic market is flourishing, marked by last September’s approval of Hinkley Point C - the first new nuclear power station in this country for a generation.
“And as we will hear later this morning, plans are also coming together for subsequent new domestic projects involving Horizon, NuGen and EDF and CGN.
“Each of these projects will provide inward investment opportunities, and will see the UK’s nuclear workforce continue to grow, particularly in the north west and the south west as the new build programme creates at least 40,000 jobs.”
He said the decommissioning programme is worth more than £3.2 billion annually.
He added: “International trade has long been the lifeblood of the British economy, and the driver of our prosperity. Commerce is part of our national DNA.
“Britain will always remain open to international investment and commercial partnership, and a champion of free and open trade.”
To read the full speech click HERE.

• News reports this week said the trade department may have broken EU rules with 'pro-Brexit' contract criteria which specified that prospective contractors must ‘be committed to the best possible outcome for the United Kingdom following its departure from the European Union’. Bristol University senior law lecturer Albert Sanchez-Graells said the ‘cultural fit’ criteria, included in two advertisements asking tech firms to bid for work with government, were too subjective to comply with EU procurement rules.

• A journalist from the Lincolnshire Reporter asked Dr Fox about the rights of migrant workers when on a recent visit to a factory in the county. The journalist asked if migrants would be allowed to remain after Brexit, the North Somerset MP said that was ‘a matter for our European partners’. Dr Fox said: “We have already said that EU nationals who are in the UK can have the right to remain here when we leave the EU…if we get a reciprocal agreement from our European partners. About three million EU citizens are here at the moment and about 900,000 UK are living in other parts of the EU. I think it’s a very reasonable thing for our prime minister to say ‘well why can’t we remove the uncertainty of that now?’. Our European partners have not yet been willing to do that. Maybe they will do once we trigger Article 50. I think it’s in everyone’s interests to remove the uncertainty for business.”

• More on the political peeps page by clicking HERE.