A £1.3 billion tidal lagoon scheme is at risk of being sunk by key cabinet ministers according to a report in the Mail on Sunday. The project, which would provide 70,000 jobs to the UK energy industry, is under review by senior civil servants after Tidal Power plc, the company behind the project, were given five years to start the project in 2015. The first tidal lagoon was earmarked for Swansea Bay, and work could begin within months, which would provide enough power for 155,000 homes. But senior politicians appear to be keen to turn their back on the scheme, citing a lack of value for money, despite Prime Minister Boris Johnson endorsing the project last summer. Tidal energy is produced in a similar system to wind turbines, with a turbine and generator under the water converting kinetic energy from the movement of the tides, usually creating electricity. Moves to end the tidal lagoon schemes come at a time when the UK government is lending support to Chinese state backed nuclear power stations across the UK. Former leader of the Conservatives, Iain Duncan Smith has been a vocal supporter of the tidal lagoon scheme and told the Mail on Sunday: “Certain elements in Government are blocking this and I want to know why. At a time when we should be reducing our dependence on China, this would be a British project and it would advance the party’s promise to help those parts of the country which have been left behind.” An independent review of the tidal lagoons scheme in 2017 found that the alternative energy source could ‘play a cost effective role in the UK’s energy mix’ and would deliver low carbon power in a ‘very competitive way’.