The UK government has admitted that a study into the suitability of Scottish sites for new nuclear power projects could have been “a waste” of money. The government commissioned Great British Energy-Nuclear (GBE-N), a public body, to carry out the study.
The revelation came after Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) secretary of state Ed Miliband told Scottish journalists in October 2025 that:
given the growing interest in nuclear in Scotland, I’m asking GBE-N to assess Scotland’s capability for new nuclear power stations, including at Torness and Hunterston.
This is going to be a very, very big issue in the Scottish election campaign. We are saying yes to new nuclear in Scotland.
Labour hoping to end SNP ban on new nuclear in Scotland
Scotland is due to go to the polls to elect a new Scottish parliament and Scottish government in May 2026. Labour is hoping to wrest back control from the Scottish National Party (SNP).
In an article about the same interview published in October 2025, the Scotsman newspaper reported that a “senior UK government source” had said they were considering submitting planning applications for new nuclear developments at Torness and Hunterston because they expected a Scottish Labour victory at the Holyrood election.
The UK Labour Party and Scottish Labour support nuclear power and nuclear weapons. This position is coming under pressure as the Green Party of England and Wales, which vehemently opposes all nuclear, increasingly challenges Labour in public opinion polls.
Under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, the government released documents to the Canary about Miliband’s request to GBE-N. These included a Q&A document prepared by DESNZ officials. It revealed that officials knew there would be concerns about new nuclear proposals in Scotland.
No new nuclear can be built in Scotland because planning policy is a devolved matter, and the ruling SNP opposes nuclear power. The rebuttal in the DESNZ Q&A was that there is “cross-party interest in new nuclear” in Scotland.
Energy department officials contradict each other on responsibility for study
The documents released under FOI also revealed that a DESNZ official, whose name was redacted, had sought to reassure GBE-N colleagues that DESNZ was not “behind the briefing” in an email sent on 22 October 2025 at 4:02pm.
That position was contradicted by an email in a separate earlier conversation where, on 21 October 2025 at 6:46pm, John Staples, DESNZ director for new nuclear strategy and fusion energy, said:
our SpAds [special advisors] want SoS [secretary of state] to be able to say the below to Scottish journalists.
‘Below’ in the email were lines drafted for Miliband which included:
I will ask Great British Energy – Nuclear to begin assessing Scotland’s capability for new nuclear power stations.
The internally prepared Q&A included a question which asked:
Isn’t this study a waste of money?
The DESNZ answer said:
New nuclear projects can deliver millions of pounds of investment and thousands of high-quality jobs to a region – UK ministers want to understand the potential for new projects right across Great Britain.
The Canary approached the Labour Party for comment, which deferred to DESNZ. DESNZ did not respond to a request for comment.
‘Obvious’ that study would be ‘waste of money’ – Scottish CND
A Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) spokesperson told the Canary:
It is obvious that an assessment of the viability of new nuclear sites in Scotland would be a waste of money, since the foremost issue is not the viability of sites but Scottish government policy.
Energy policy is devolved to Holyrood and the Scottish government very sensibly opposes new nuclear plants in Scotland.
There are a whole host of reasons why new nuclear plants in Scotland would be a terrible idea, including the absolutely exorbitant cost of nuclear plant construction, the reliance on destructive and unjust international uranium supply chains, and the enormous and cross-generational burden of decommissioning nuclear plants, which in the case of Dounreay is expected to take hundreds of years.
In particular, the notion that Scotland, which is a net energy exporter and has the potential to become an international renewables powerhouse, should pivot to costly nuclear projects at this stage is somewhat absurd.
Investing the same sums invested in nuclear power plants – scores of billions and climbing for Hinkley Point C and Sizewell C – into the grid, home insulation and the renewables sector across Scotland would be an immeasurably better investment.
For Scottish CND, another concerning element of the renewed push for nuclear power is the deep imbrication [overlapping] of the ‘civil’ and military nuclear industries, as openly promoted in the 2025 Industrial Strategy.
From this perspective, investment in new nuclear power plants can be seen as defence spending by stealth and a means of shoring up the UK nuclear weapons industry – something which is of no benefit to Scotland and indeed causes major risks and harms in Scottish communities.
New nuclear would be incredibly expensive – Scottish government minister
Cross-party Scottish politicians elected to the Holyrood and Westminster parliaments criticised the commissioning of the study.
Scottish government energy secretary Gillian Martin MSP told the Canary:
The Scottish government does not support the creation of new nuclear reactors in Scotland.
New nuclear would be incredibly expensive and the levy placed on energy bills to pay for nuclear reactors will cost Scottish electricity bill payers £300m over the next decade.
Nuclear reactors also produce a legacy of dangerous radioactive waste. Instead, we are focused on supporting the development of Scotland’s immense renewable energy potential – which provides more jobs, is faster to deliver, is safer, and more cost effective than the creation of new nuclear reactors.
Significant growth in renewables is providing key opportunities for our future energy workforce in Scotland, with independent scenarios from Ernst and Young showing that with the right support, Scotland’s low carbon and renewable energy sector could support nearly 80,000 jobs by 2050.
SNP criticises ‘Westminster obsession with nuclear’
The SNP’s Westminster energy spokesperson Graham Leadbitter MP told the Canary:
People in Scotland are already paying a tax for new nuclear power stations in England they neither want nor need, driving up energy bills at a time households are already under serious financial pressures.
Scotland is blessed with an abundance of clean, renewable energy already, enough to power our nation many times over.
So this Westminster obsession with nuclear isn’t based on need, or even any desire from people living here who would rather not pay hand over fist for expensive and unnecessary nuclear power.
Instead what they should be focusing on is delivering on their promise to cut energy bills by £300 which have instead, under Labour’s rule, risen significantly higher.
People in Scotland are tired of these out-of-touch diktats from Westminster politicians about what should be built here, all while ignoring the genuine concerns of the people who live and work here.
It’s no wonder more and more people are concluding that decisions about Scotland should be made in Scotland with the full powers of independence.
‘New nuclear would waste time, money and political attention’ – Scottish Greens
Scottish Greens net zero spokesperson Patrick Harvie MSP told the Canary:
There is a clear majority against new nuclear power programmes in Scotland.
New nuclear would waste time, money and political attention which should be spent on the real challenges we face on climate and energy policy.
Scotland has made impressive progress in building an energy system based on renewables, which are cheaper, faster to deliver and far safer for people and the environment. There’s still plenty of potential for renewables to keep growing.
The UK government shouldn’t be wasting money trying to push nuclear projects on Scotland, against the wishes of Scotland’s parliament.
If they care about cutting emissions and cutting fuel poverty, they’d be changing electricity price regulation to pass on the low cost of renewable generation to billpayers, which would cut the cost of living and create a powerful incentive to switch away from fossil fuels for heat and transport.
If the UK government won’t do that, it should give Scotland the power to do so for ourselves.
Scotland should not have to deal with the distraction of UK Labour’s nuclear fantasy, when we need both governments to scale up and speed up in eradicating fuel poverty and in the race to net zero.
Featured image via the Canary
By Tom Pashby
This post was originally published on Canary.