The newly-elected chairwoman of the Commons Business select committee has announced she intends to hold an inquiry into Britain’s future membership of Euratom.
Labour’s Rachel Reeves said she wanted to look into the country’s post-Brexit relationship with the European civil nuclear regulator because “so many jobs and investment depend upon it”.
The Government has said European Union treaties are “uniquely legally joined“ with Euratom, although Brexit Secretary David Davis indicated there could be some sort of association arrangement with the regulator.
Ms Reeves told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme: “As the Committee for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy gets up and running we need to do an inquiry into Euratom and our future membership of it because 65,000 jobs in the UK are in the civil nuclear sector and well, for medicine, radioisotopes are imported from other European countries for radiotherapy in this country.
“It’s hugely important – the Government may be right to say that some sort of associate membership would work, but at the moment we’re at risk of leaving Euratom and that important relationship which so many jobs, our electricity and our radiotherapy depend on.”
She added: “I want us as a committee – and the committee apart from myself haven’t yet been elected – but when we are up and running I want to do an inquiry into this because I think so many jobs and investment depend upon it.”
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