UK Green Party drops its long-standing opposition to nuclear power
Members voted to let the party's elected representatives judge new reactors case by case, while keeping wind and solar as its main priorities.
Members of the Green Party of England and Wales voted at their conference to drop the party's long-standing commitment to phase out nuclear power, a major shift in its energy policy.
The motion removes the party's "blanket opposition to nuclear fission" and lets its elected representatives back new reactors on a case-by-case basis. Offshore wind, onshore wind and rooftop solar remain the party's priority sources of electricity.
"This evolution of our policy does not commit the party to backing new nuclear, but accepts this power source is here to stay for now," said Carla Denyer, a Green member of Parliament. She said keeping existing plants running could be a low-carbon option, a change in tone from 2023, when she called nuclear "incredibly slow and incredibly expensive." Party leader Zack Polanski has compared investing in new reactors to "creating a fax machine."
Eugene McCarthy, a co-founder of Greens for Nuclear, said the climate crisis demands considering every option. Andrew Stirling, a professor who has advised the government on energy policy, called the motion "completely irrational," arguing that renewables combined with storage are faster and more affordable.
The party's opposition to nuclear power was rooted in its opposition to nuclear weapons, one of its founding principles.
This brief is based on reporting by Matthew Pearce, published Oct. 5, 2026, in the Guardian. Read the original: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/oct/05/green-party-nuclear-power-policy
This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed by an editor before publication.
