Trade union GMB has said Hinkley Point C should go ahead despite concerns.

In response to an open letter in the Ecologist, which challenged GMB’s support, the union said the authors were “wrong on so many levels”.

The letter comes after Austria launched a lawsuit against the construction of the nuclear power plant late last year.

Gary Smith, GMB National Secretary for energy, said: “If the Austrians are successful and they won’t be, they will continue to be surrounded by ageing Soviet-style reactors.

“I get their concern but their solution, trying to stop new modern reactors being built which could replace the old Soviet kit, is just plain daft.

“Civil nuclear power in the UK has a good safety record. We know as we organise it.”

He adds the truth is “there are very few jobs for working class people in renewables” and those that do exist are not unionised.

He went on to say the union organised “a chunk of the sector before solar was cut” and it is the “only union with national negotiating rights in the insulation sector”.

Mr Smith said: “The job facts are an inconvenient truth…we will be using gas and nuclear for a very long time in the UK.”