Rebecca Long- Bailey MP, Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Energy, commenting on the Government announcement today that the tax payer will incur nearly £100m in costs and damages due to the mishandling of nuclear decommissioning contracts, said:

“By cancelling just two years into a 14 year contract, the Government has shown dramatic levels of incompetence in the procurement process of this deal. 

“British tax payers who stand to lose nearly £100m should be asking themselves not just whether they are willing to put up with such ineptitude but also whether the Government actually has a well thought out and long term nuclear decommissioning strategy. 

“This is of course the second big Government contract cancelled in the space of six months after the Concentrix tax credits scandal earlier this year. With Concentrix, a similar pattern of Government behaviour emerged, they failed to recognise key failures in service provision and were forced to cancel the contract.”