Peter Levy: Mr Stuart, is this the right decision for Holderness?
Graham Stuart: Absolutely it is. I was committed from the beginning, I said we needed to give the local people the final say.
Well, it quickly became clear to local councillors, Lyn Healing and Sean McMaster and to me that local people didn't want us to go ahead with this and delighted to see their motion carried at the council today.
PL: You told me a few weeks back you wanted a referendum. You've changed your mind on that. Is that because it's election year and you could see that the majority of people were against this?
GS: I haven't changed my mind at all.
What I said to you then, what I say to you now, is that the local people had to have the final say.
Well, as soon as we had the engagement events, I went to Withernsea, met with councillors there and the local people. It was clear people didn't want it.
So I'm just pleased. What I will always do is put local people's say first, as you know, in all my campaigns.
I'm delighted to see this one come to a successful conclusion, and the local people don't want it, and it's not going to happen.
PL: If it's right for Holderness, the right decision for Holderness, then it's the right decision for Theddlethorpe and lots of other places in the country. Nobody's going to actually say they want it.
So if all the councils say no, where's it going to go? Where's the radioactive way it's going to go?
GS: Well, the government policy is quite clear that it needs the consent of local people. That consent has not been given in South Holderness.
PL: But once they've seen this, this is going to be the same everywhere. I mean, and then it's got to go somewhere. So what's the answer?
GS: Well, neither you nor I are responsible for finding the nuclear waste site in the UK.
What we were told was that local people would have their say and Peter, I went out, listened to local people on the basis of consent and we've now successfully brought this campaign to a conclusion and said no.
PL: As a climate minister you've been pushing nuclear power as an alternative to relying on Russia. So this waste has got to go somewhere, where would you, I mean is Lincolnshire a good choice?
GS: Well the government has been clear that it must, it will only go ahead somewhere where it has local consent, it doesn't have local consent in South Holderness, I can't speak for other areas, I don't represent other areas.
What I always do is put my constituents in Beverley and Holderness first, make sure their voices are heard.
PL: Do you think that any area is actually going to sit and say, oh, yeah, we'll have it.
We don't mind our house prices going down. We don't mind this. And can Holderness, for example, afford to turn down this sort of money. It was worth, it was worth a million pound a year, just for just a engaging with NWS.
GS: The big thing was to listen to local people. That's exactly what I did. They said, No, if you came along, you saw all the post -it notes on the board in the Shores Centre in Withernsea.
You know what local feeling was.
PL: But there was no referendum. So we don't know for sure, the gut feeling, but we don't know for sure, because there was no referendum.
GS: No, and I was absolutely clear if it did go ahead, we would have to have one. one, but it became abidingly clear, abundantly clear that local people didn't want it, and that's why the motion passed at council today and I’m celebrating the fact that people had their voices heard.
PL: I know you're celebrating, but if you're sitting watching the telly tonight and think, well, I wouldn't like that money and those jobs in the Holderness area, they haven't got a chance to even vote, yes.
GS: Well, no, the people came along to the various sessions and it was clear overwhelmingly people were opposed to this and my job, Peter, as you know, I have done it through campaign against incinerators or championing local health services, getting diagnostics into Withernsea. You have done a great advert for yourself.
Thank you very much indeed. You know the story, is it the right decision to reject the nuclear waste? It would have brought jobs, of course, and up to a million pounds a year.
This is a transcript of Graham Stuart’s interview with Peter Levy on BBC Look North on 21st February 2024.
