Tufan Erginbilgic from Rolls-Royce made a last-minute call to Rachel Reeves before her first Budget; asking not to block business growth with new taxes. The UK has been falling behind its rivals and needs better support for tech-savvy projects like mini-nuclear reactors
Whatever the policies are‚ we should make sure that they actually support economic growth – and that is the big point
The Czech Republic moved faster than Britain: signing a ground-breaking deal with Rolls-Royce for six mini-nuclear plants. The agreement includes CEZ (state-owned energy firm) getting a 20% stake in Rolls-Royces SMR division for hundreds-of-millions of pounds; making them partners with Qatarʼs wealth fund and other big-money investors
Work in southern Czech Republic starts next year at Temelin site‚ while UKʼs process is still stuck in paper-work. The British government gave £210m to help develop these reactors but didnt take any ownership: now its running a slow-moving competition to pick whoʼll build the first UK plants (which wont work until early-2030s)
The GBN process has already been delayed so I think it now needs to move forward in a speedy manner
British ambassador Matt Field backed the project saying its exactly what UK needs – clean reliable power thats good for jobs; but the governments slow decision-making might mean other countries get ahead in line