Women have been central to the nuclear story from the very beginning.

It was that great scientist, Irène Joliot-Curie, who pioneered research into radioactivity, which laid the ground for the discovery of nuclear fission and earned her a Nobel Prize.

She was the less famous daughter of perhaps the most well-known woman scientist of all, Marie Curie.

And Marie’s granddaughter is an esteemed nuclear physicist too.

Three generations of women in nuclear in one family.

What an inspiration.

Yet in the time I’ve been Shadow Energy Secretary I’ve been struck by how male the energy world is.

The data shows women are underrepresented right across the energy industry, and in science and engineering departments in our universities too.

The Government says it wants more women in the sector. But the latest figures show it is the Department of Energy and Climate Change that is the Ministry with the biggest gender pay gap in Whitehall.

So I want to celebrate what you’ve achieved, by contributing so much to this industry and by helping to inspire the next generation of young women.

It angers me that so little is being done to give today’s girls the confidence that this is being addressed.

It angers me too that the energy sector is devaluing the contribution of women because of the immensity of the challenges that we must address, which will require everyone’s talent.

Britain’s power supply is going into the red.

Half of Britain’s coal-fired stations will close this year.

All but one of our country’s nuclear stations are scheduled to shut by 2030.

New figures show how for the first time National Grid expects Britain will be forced to rely on backup measures, and importing electricity from abroad, to keep the lights on and avoid power shortages this winter.

It will be households and businesses who pay for this Tory failure through higher energy bills.

There is an urgent task to put money back into the pockets of the families and business across the country who create this country’s wealth but the government’s energy policy mess is doing the reverse.

We have known for more than a decade that many of Britain’s ageing power stations would be closing, and that it would take political leadership to keep the lights on.

But under David Cameron and George Osborne there is not a single new nuclear power station under construction.

With the exception of one initiated just before we left office, there is not a single new gas-fired power station being built either.

And investment in wind and solar is expected to fall off a cliff because of the Chancellor’s decision to dismantle major clean energy investment schemes.

It is now essential that Ministers heed the repeated warnings of business leaders and urgently get some new power stations built.

Nuclear stations can dependably produce consistent supplies of large quantities of power.

Crucially they can do this without producing the air pollution that is so damaging to public health, or the gases that are causing climate change and contributing to flooding that is putting homes and businesses under water.

The scientist often described as the world’s foremost authority on climate change, the former director of NASA, Professor James Hansen, put it:

“Nuclear will make the difference between the world missing crucial climate targets or achieving them.”

Someans I believe it would be wrong to take nuclear – such a major carbon-free energy solution – off the table.

The Lib Dems are still divided on the role of nuclear, the Green Party are theological in their opposition, and the Tories have no energy strategy at all..

With our economy still over-dependent upon jobs in London and the South East of England, our world-class nuclear industries offer many communities across the rest of our country - like the one here in Warrington - good, well paid work.

A report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation last week found that almost all of the towns and cities most struggling to thrive are in the North of England. Rochdale, Oldham and my town of Wigan.

Whether at Rolls Royce in Derby, or the Forgemasters steelworks in Sheffield, or at Sellafield in Cumbria, our nuclear industry offers skilled work to thousands of people in the North and right across the rest of the country.

The government says it has job creation in its sights, and they are right to.

But too often they ignore the quality of the jobs – and it’s a question about our future.

Zero hours, low paid, repetitive, low-skilled work.

Or work that has quality, that helps to give meaning to our lives, and makes a contribution to our future purposeful jobs helping to address some of the greatest challenges that threaten our collective security. Skilled and well paid too.

That’s why I want Britain to be a country that doesn’t just have nuclear, but that does nuclear too.

We must learn from the mistakes the Tories have made in their handling of Hinkley Point C.

Ministers should be doing everything they can to ensure that where possible the jobs in the supply chains producing content for new power stations go to British firms.

Yet whilst Sheffield Forgemasters, an outstanding Yorkshire company, has made clear they can produce the majority of forgings for nuclear reactors, key components may be imported from foreign work forces instead.

We also need a nuclear strategy that does not come at any cost.

Ministers have tied themselves in knots trying to avoid having to concede that their policy would need to involve large public subsidies.

But the reality is they have negotiated a deal for Hinkley Point C that looks set to see households and businesses paying out for the most expensive power station ever built anywhere in the world.

The project is set to cost more than the 2012 Olympics, Crossrail and Heathrow’s Terminal 5 combined.

But is it any surprise bill payers did not get the best deal given the Prime Minister announced his commitment to this agreement even before his negotiations with the developers were completed?

When these talks were held in secret, away from competition or proper scrutiny?

Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee have agreed to my request to investigate the details of this deal to ensure we learn lessons from this process and so avoid unnecessary costs in future.

I believe it should be perfectly possible to find cheaper ways of getting new nuclear stations built in future.

Hinkley Point C has been hit by one delay after another, and there still has not been a final investment decision.

Given the power crunch we face a new power station at Hinkley Point C could play a substantial role.

But given the risks with the project it is increasingly clear Ministers need a plan B in case it is never built.

And beyond Hinkley there are an array of opportunities in other nuclear technologies.

French, Chinese, American, Canadian and Japanese companies are racing ahead with new nuclear designs, including Molten Salt Reactors, Heavy Water Reactors, and Fast Reactors.

With our proud history of successful nuclear research, and gold standard regulatory system, Britain cannot be allowed to fall behind.

Some of these new reactor designs even hold the potential to turn Britain’s nuclear waste stockpile into fuel, to reduce the risks of proliferation, and to cut costs.

Through innovation in our own universities and businesses Britain can be at the fore of the next generation of nuclear research.

That is why I will hold this government to account on their promise of £250 million of support for nuclear innovation.

Britain cannot afford for these funds to suddenly ‘disappear’ like the budgets did for other energy innovation projects.

All options must be kept on the table.

And that’s why I will demand of this government that they act to invest in better careers advice and education, and support work experience and apprenticeships in this area, to increase the numbers of women working in science and engineering.

I want to congratulate Prospect on all the campaigning they have been doing on this.

Because we cannot afford not to open up the energy world to talented young people from communities like Warrington, to continue to deprive ourselves of the talent we need in the face of the risks posed by climate change and energy insecurity.

I want a girl in Warrington or Wigan today to grow up knowing that she will have the opportunity to build a sparkling scientific career.

It is only by investing in you, and the skills and expertise of workers throughout our industry, that we can beat the threat from climate change, safely close Britain’s energy gap, and discover the next generation of Nobel Prize winners

Thank you.