Column by Stroud MP Siobhan Baillie

This country’s quest for fusion power took a step forward last week when scientists at Culham in Oxfordshire more than doubled the amount of fusion energy generated compared with previous tests.

The amount of power was still small but it is the biggest progress for this technology – considered the energy Holy Grail - since the late 1990s.

For Stroud it could have enormous implications as the Severn Edge Fusion bid based at Berkeley Green and Oldbury has made it on to the final shortlist to be the home of the UK nuclear fusion prototype project.

The potential for our town, Gloucestershire and the wider south west region in terms of investment, jobs and training is absolutely huge if the prototype comes our way.

The net zero 2050 target will also be made much easier if we know we can harness significant new forms of green energy in the next two decades.

And it’s important we spread the message of how important this is to the entire region. I am pleased to say there have been fusion information sessions for residents at Berkeley recently which have been well received.

But we do really need the whole district and south west behind us to win this as it will be hard fighting off other equally tenacious opposition from other areas of the UK.

As I write, the situation in the Ukraine appears to be deteriorating and just like the Government, I am very concerned that Russia will invade. The mood music has been bad for months now and there are a reported 100,000 plus Russian troops massed at the Ukrainian border.

The UK has sent anti-tank missiles and troops to train the local forces on them. Shuttle diplomacy has also taken place with the Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary and the Defence Secretary along with other western leaders all travelling to the region in recent days. However, this is a test for the west and the NATO alliance. We must not let Putin’s Russia invade and get away with it.

The hope is President Putin will pull back from the brink, but if he does not and invades the reaction from the West needs to be swift and in unison. Russia will be a pariah state and the toughest sanctions need to be implemented. Ukraine is a pro-western democracy; it needs our support.