Josh Whitworth: Discussing nuclear with the Prime Minister and Energy Secretary
Josh Whitworth, 29, chair of Prospect’s United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory branch, was invited to meet with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, while they were visiting the UKNNL site in Springfields, Lancashire, on Thursday, 6 February for a major announcement on the future of nuclear power.
Here, Josh, a process modeller for UKNNL who runs engineering simulations to provide support across the breadth of the nuclear sector, such as on decommissioned waste materials, internal R&D programmes and fuel reprocessing, tells us how the extraordinary day unfolded.
Prospect reps Josh Whitworth, left, (Chair, UK National Nuclear Laboratory branch) and Tom Bleasdale, right, (Secretary, Westinghouse branch) meeting the Prime Minister and Energy Secretary on 6 February
I got the call on Wednesday morning, just the day before, to say that there would be some VIPs attending our site who wanted to meet with representatives of the trade unions, as part of their visit.
That Wednesday evening, I had to run out and buy a suit. Reading between the lines, I could guess that it was senior government officials, but it was only confirmed that it was the Prime Minister and Energy Secretary on Thursday morning.
Prospect’s Head of Communications sent me a briefing, which largely reflected many of the topics that I wanted to discuss too, such as how the nuclear sector is an important example of good partnership between trade unions, government and business.
The meeting
When I turned up on the Thursday morning there were a lot of UKNNL executive team there and a lot of camera crew and news people running around.
Straight away, before they visited the labs, it was time for our meeting and the agenda was – you have 10 minutes with the Prime Minister and the Energy Secretary, and the time is yours to discuss whatever you want.
In the room was myself and Tom Bleasdale, the Prospect lay rep for Springfield Fuels.
Tom spoke about how he came through an apprenticeship scheme, and how the current managing director of Springfield Fuels also started as an apprentice. Immediately, there was quite a good rapport there and you could see they picked up on that.
Both Sir Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband spoke about how they are trying to grow the industry and get more people into nuclear, and how apprenticeships are really important. They even mentioned it during Q&A live on TV afterwards. We all agreed it’s a positive message for the industry.
The meeting seemed to go very quickly. I told them that the nuclear sector provides many high-skilled, well-paid and unionised jobs, and Tom’s experience highlighted that it’s a sector where you can sustain and progress your career throughout your working life.
After we finished, they visited the labs and then there was the Q&A which was shown live on the news channels, and where I got to ask them a question about whether nuclear would be prioritised in the upcoming spending review (something that Prospect have been calling for).
The answer was largely positive; as with most political answers it wasn’t a simple yes or no, but there was a clear inference that spending on nuclear would be expanded beyond the spending review.
Josh Whitworth and fellow Prospect rep Tom Bleasdale in discussion with the Prime Minister and Energy Secretary
Union rep
On the Wednesday morning everything was happening very quickly and I had felt a little bit dropped in it, but it was a brilliant experience to meet them.
It’s something that only happened because I am a union rep. It’s not just meeting senior government leaders either, I spent the whole day in conversations with the executive board of UKNNL and the managing directors of Springfield Fuels who all encouraged the importance of productive relationships with their recognised trade unions.
It was a great experience for me personally but also, in light of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero’s strategic review that saw NNL become UKNNL and adopt the Royal Coat of Arms, it shows how our impact and profile has become even more important to the UK nuclear industry.
Having the Prime Minister and the Energy Secretary visit our labs and see how enthusiastic the workforce is about the work we’re doing – hopefully that is something that will influence them in driving nuclear forward.
Since that day, people have been congratulating me non-stop for essentially just being in the same room as somebody else! But it was a genuine pleasure to be at the meeting representing Prospect members.
- Read more on UKNNL: Government Sees Nuclear Future in Action at UKNNL
