Keir Starmer goes nuclear in the hunt for long-term growth

And we have been here before – promises made about a nuclear future that fail to materialise: The timeframes of nuclear projects are much longer than parliamentary cycles and governments with small majorities can be put off by controversy.

Will it really be any different this time around – and should it be?

Sir Keir Starmer expresses his irritation that the UK’s nuclear capacity has shrivelled, despite its world-beating start.

Calder Hall in Cumbria was the first nuclear power station in the world to produce electricity for domestic use when it opened in 1956.

Twenty-one reactors were built in the UK in the ten years after that.

But the last nuclear plant to open was 30 years ago: Sizewell B in Suffolk.

And when it did, protesters locked themselves to its gates.

And already, three decades on, the opponents are sharpening their arguments.

“It doesn’t have a 100% record of safety in the UK. The nuclear industry is working amongst the most deadly materials known to mankind,” Richard Outram from Nuclear Free Local Authorities told us.