Former UK PM Liz Truss says nuclear should ‘definitely’ be part of energy mix

Reaching net zero will require nuclear power in the energy mix, says former UK prime minister Liz Truss, highlighting the bipartisan support for the technology in Britain.

Reaching net zero will require nuclear power in the energy mix, says former UK prime minister Liz Truss, highlighting the bipartisan support for the technology in Britain.

Ms Truss, who visited federal parliament in Canberra on Tuesday, said while there was broader political support in her country for nuclear energy than in Australia, France was a far more advance example to follow.

“I definitely think that nuclear power has to be part of the future energy mix,” she said.

“(British) people in general do support nuclear, and we’re looking at the technology of small modular reactors as well as building new nuclear power stations.

But for Australia, Ms Truss said France was a better country to aspire to emulate on nuclear as they had been “very successful” at creating a good baseload source of power with it.

Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Liz Truss. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“Although there is general support for nuclear power (in the UK), we haven’t actually built any new stations for quite some time, partly because Britain’s planning system is very difficult to build things in,” she said.

“So we support it in principle, but actually putting into practice has proven to be more difficult.”

Ms Truss said in the UK the net zero debate was shifting to a focus on “cost” and whether fracking for natural gas was needed to keep manufacturing competitive.

“Britain now has the highest cost of energy of any developed country in the world … and I’m very concerned that’s making our industry uncompetitive,” she said.

Former UK prime minister Liz Truss says nuclear power must be a part of the energy mix for net zero. Picture: Jeff Fusco/Getty Images North America

Ms Truss, who departed as prime minister after just 49 days in the top job, lost her seat of South West Norfolk at the UK general election in July.

Ms Truss said there were several parallels between the political debates in Australia and the UK, including the issue of housing shortages.

She said planning laws in Britain were “very cumbersome” and warned over the top environmental regulations were obstructing major infrastructure projects.

“There’s a problem with just getting the balance right between, we obviously want to protect nature, but we do need building, and we do need a much simpler system,” she said.

Liz Truss watched parliament Question Time during her visit to Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Reflecting on the UK elections, where four candidates backed by a local Muslim Votes movement successfully won seats in parliament, Ms Truss said she was concerned about “sectarianism happening in our politics”.

“I think it’s extremely worrying,” she said.

“It’s very worrying that it’s come into British domestic politics, rather than the issues most voters are concerned about.”

Ms Truss said she also feared the UK Labour Party was “appeasing” anti-Israel tendencies expressed by the Muslim Votes movement.

“They’re worried about losing votes to either the sectarian parties or the Green Party as well, which is advocating those types of policies,” she said.

Ms Truss this year founded a new political organisation called Popular Conservatism and has been speaking at events in the US, UK and this week attended Australia’s Conservative Political Action Conference.