MINISTERS must end the uncertainty around the Sizewell C nuclear project or risk it collapsing at the cost of 25,000 jobs, the GMB union warned today.

Riding a wave of cold war rhetoric, ministers have threatened to block the involvement in power projects of Chinese companies such as CGN, which forms 20 per cent of the consortium aiming to build the new Suffolk reactor.

The company also holds a one-third stake in the Hinkley Point C plant under construction in Somerset, and the union is also demanding that there be no disruption to those works.

GMB national officer Charlotte Childs said: “We need urgent clarity on how the funding mechanism will work by the autumn, otherwise the whole project could collapse. 

“Not only would that jeopardise the UK’s energy future and net-zero targets but it would risk the 25,000 jobs Sizewell C would create.

“Just a few years ago, the Conservatives were ready to hand over whole nuclear projects in the UK to China lock, stock and barrel. 

“The government needs to back this essential infrastructure and start investing in our own manufacturing supply chain.”