Prospect senior deputy general secretary Sue Ferns, responding to Sky News story on the risk of the UK missing nuclear safeguarding deadlines ahead of Brexit, said:

“It is hard to think of anything more important than making sure the UK has a fully operational nuclear safeguards regime after Brexit, the consequences if we get it wrong are potentially incredibly serious.

“But the reality is that the totally unnecessary decision to pull the UK out of a nuclear regime that has served us well for years has left civil servants racing against the clock to create a whole new safeguards regime from scratch.

“This is the wrong way to approach something of such critical importance and it is vital that the government both urgently provide more support to the Office for Nuclear regulation, and commits to negotiating the closest possible association with Euratom to protect our nuclear industry and workforce from the damage the government has caused through indecision and uncertainty.”