We asked you to submit your questions to candidates standing in the 2024 General Election.
From all your submissions, we chose 10 that represented the broad issues you wanted answers to.
We’ll be publishing a question with the responses from the candidates who replied from each constituency.
The first answers are from candidates standing in the Whitehaven & Workington constituency.
Should Cumbria host a GDF?
Josh MacAlister, Labour
I am open to Cumbria hosting a GDF, but only if it comes with tangible benefits for the community such as major new infrastructure.
The UK needs some form of GDF and we should get on with making the decision sooner rather than later. And the decision on where to host it needs to be made with the local community.
Jill Perry, the Green Party
I don’t believe that a GDF is the answer. We know from two failed attempts (Nirex and later Managing Radioactive Waste Safely) that the geology here is unsuitable.
If we are going to deep bury the radioactive waste, it should be in the best geology. Now we know that the nuclear industry is pinning its hopes on under the seabed, but that makes me even more uneasy.
When radioactivity leaks from a GDF on land it wouldn’t be noticed until it reached the surface and had contaminated the soil. When it leaks into the sea it may wash around the world and contaminate everywhere.
So, given that most of the nuclear waste is here in West Cumbria, and transport it elsewhere would be a logistical and environmental nightmare, I think the best (or least bad) solution is to keep it here and store it safely on the surface, or near the surface where it can be monitored for leaks, repackaged as necessary and kept safe. And yes this means for many centuries which is why we shouldn’t be contemplating producing any more of the stuff.
Andrew Johnson, the Conservative Party
Doing nothing is not an option so yes, if the geology is suitable. We’ve hosted the bulk of the waste that would go to a GDF here for decades, above ground, and many of our residents have benefited from the jobs, supply chain and local spend that has brought.
We shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to protect and increase the number of good, local, long-term jobs and the business opportunities that such a huge project would present.
Chris Wills, Liberal Democrats
It could be argued that there should be no nuclear provision unless safe disposal is guaranteed and where precisely it should end up. We have, though, a given situation, right here in Cumbria.
I’ll make a supposition that nuclear waste from the UK could be buried deep in an uninhabitable part of the planet.
There are all sorts of problems with that: growing populations, politics, pollution from transport, and more, but I’m just uneasy with the ethics of it. Giving somewhere, somebody else our dangerous waste.
So, we have a load of nuclear waste in Cumberland and it has to go somewhere. In theory, if the safety is guaranteed, absolutely guaranteed, it could go anywhere. Under London. But this brings me to a part of the whole problem which nags, does GDF in Cumbria feel like an imposition?
I think it does. I want a wider debate on the subject, throughout the UK, not just in interesting documentaries.
I’ve listened to some highly intelligent people on the subject. I trust them. But that trust needs to be shared or else we have imposition and that will hurt new nuclear, including the SMRs.
What are your views on plans for an offshore coal mine for Whitehaven? What is your party’s stance? What are the next steps?
Josh MacAlister, Labour
Our area needs good quality jobs that will last. The mine has been talked about for so long and mired in so many government delays and legal challenges that most people don’t believe it will ever open.
If it does, there’s no British demand for this coal so it’ll be exported into a volatile market where the price is dropping. That makes the mine a risky bet for new jobs.
The easiest thing in the world would be to tell you the mine will solve our problems – but it won’t. It’s all that the Tories are offering but I think we can do better. We used to lead the way in new industry, and we can again. We deserve jobs that will last and that’s what I’ll fight for.
Jill Perry, the Green Party
The coal mine should not go ahead. The climate crisis is sufficiently real and ongoing that we cannot afford any new coal, oil or gas exploitation.
The Green Party MPS would cancel all recently granted licences and not issue any new ones. The coking coal the mine might provide is not needed by the steel industry, which is transitioning away from its use.
It won’t provide jobs in the long-term for local people and has become a stranded asset. Next we have a legal challenge being heard in the High Court in London in July. Then we will have to wait for the judgement to be published. But of course we will have a new Government by then and we have to hope it is one which will recognise the importance of speedy and radical action to reduce climate emissions.
Andrew Johnson, the Conservative Party
I’m fully supportive of the new mine and it is a central part of my campaign. I’m backing the 537 new direct jobs, 2,000 more in the wider supply chain, the millions of pounds of investment it will bring in, and the fact that it supports the upgrade to the coastal railway line.
I do understand the climate concerns, but we have to be pragmatic. European and global demand for coking coal remains strong and this coal will be mined somewhere as a result regardless.
Far better it is here and done in an environmentally sound way, then elsewhere, plus we can benefit from the jobs. Labour wants to scrap the mine, which is an act of huge economic self-harm and pledge only mythical green jobs.
Chris Wills, Liberal Democrats
Do I laugh or do I cry?
I’ve been against this since it was announced. I’ve also been angry on behalf of local people who haven’t been given the facts but rather false hope that the mine will bring about prosperity for their families.
What hope is there in an economically non-viable enterprise (except for a few in the Australian company that would be running it) in which the coking coal has to be exported to pollute the world from another place. What hope for local people when the skilled jobs would be imported.
We should be championing the outstanding potential we have in our area for renewables and SMRs.
What is the future for Moorside in West Cumbria? Will Cumbria ever get a new nuclear reactor of any sort?
Jill Perry, the Green Party
Nuclear energy is not the solution to climate change that the industry and some politicians claim it is, and it’s not even part of the solution. The climate crisis is so imminent and so huge that we cannot afford to wait for nuclear power stations to be built. The cost of living crisis and the cost of electricity in particular is so large that investing in the most expensive form of energy.
As well as the timescale overruns, the cost overruns are immense. Furthermore, as we West Cumbrians well know, there is no solution to the problem of the long-lived radioactive waste that nearly 70 years of nuclear power has produced, so we should not be looking to produce more waste that we can’t deal with.
The obsession with trying to get a new nuclear power station at Sellafield, either Moorside or Small Modular Reactor has really held back or area. It has prevented everyone from working together to build a more rounded local economy and a more positive future.
Josh MacAlister, Labour
Labour gave the go ahead for the new power station at Moorside back in 2008 and then the Tories failed to back it when the project was put at risk in 2018, leading to the project collapsing.
When it did – as revealed in answers to Parliamentary Questions I had submitted – the Tories made no assessment of the impact on West Cumbria and didn’t assess any alternatives.
The Tories made promise after promise on new nuclear but they’ve completely failed. Most recently the Government has actively blocked new nuclear by refusing to sell land near Sellafield that is a prime site for new Small Modular Reactors.
My number one priority as your MP would be to bring new nuclear home to West Cumbria. I’ll start that fight on day one in the job and won’t let up until it is delivered. That is my commitment to you.
Andrew Johnson, Conservative Party
I’m fully supportive and campaigning hard for land around Sellafield to be at the top of the list for selection for SMR fleets.
There also remains interest in Gigawatt new build. There is also significant potential to host the prototype new High Temperature Gas Reactor.
SMRs in particular offer the ability to cluster industries like hydrogen production and synthetic fuel which is a direct replacement for fossil fuel-based petrol and diesel.
After Corbyn and nuclear can we really trust Labour on the issue and to resist the inevitable legal challenge by activists in relation to it. Based on the mine I doubt it.
Chris Wills, Liberal Democrats
Moorside can be the home of a Small Modular Reactor – or even more. Big new nuclear is far too expensive, too slow and too dependant on unstable foreign countries.
David Surtees, Reform UK
Cumbria Crack received no answers from Mr Surtees. Just before the election was called, he was diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing six weeks of treatment, which he said had curtailed his ability to campaign.
