The parent company of a Gloucestershire headquartered firm is putting all its energy into high-powered Government talks - on which could rest its future and hundreds of jobs.

We flagged up at the tail end of last week how speculation had begun to mount in the media over the future of the Wylfa Newydd nuclear power station in north Wales.

Significant because it would be one of a new generation of power stations the UK is told by Government we need to keep our lights on long-term, it is also particularly significant for Gloucestershire.

That being because the company in charge of the £20 billion project, Horizon Nuclear Power is headquartered at Gloucester Business Park.

According to reports its owners, Hitachi, are on the verge of scrapping the project on Anglesey, North Wales.

This morning Horizon gave Punchline-Gloucester.com the following statement: "Since the Secretary of State's statement to the House in June last year we've been in formal negotiations with the UK Government regarding financing of the Wylfa Newydd project in a way that works both for investors and the UK electricity customer.

"This is one of the aspects of the project development phase that must be concluded before construction of Wylfa Newydd can go ahead, but the discussions are commercially confidential and we won't be commenting on rumours or speculation."

Some following the energy industry closely have already spoken about how Wales has already lost one great hope for jobs when the proposed Swansea Bay tidal lagoon project was shelved by Government.

That too was also a blow for Gloucester, led as it was by Docks-headquartered Tidal Lagoon Power, run by Stroud businessman Mark Shorrock.

Only a few months ago Gloucestershire was still expecting to become something of capital of energy for the UK, what with nuclear giant EDF's UK headquarters also in Gloucester and pioneering green energy company Ecotricity headquartered in Stroud.