Despite £53 million of private investment and two years of waiting for a Government decision on its major energy scheme a Gloucester firm has received a potentially fatal blow.

Tidal Lagoon Power, which has its headquarters in Gloucester Docks where it employs 30 staff, is the firm behind the proposed scheme to harness the rise and fall of the tides off the Welsh coast at Swansea Bay.

A little over a year ago an independent review found roundly in favour of the £1.3blln project, but all went quiet in Government. A major campaign our of Wales earlier this year backed by business to force a Government decision failed to raise any response. Until now.

Greg Clark, business and energy secretary, had now told the House of Commons the £1.3bn project would not be value for money: "Securing our energy needs into the future has to be done seriously and, when much cheaper alternatives exist, no individual project, and no particular technology, can proceed at any price."

According to the Government the project would cost the average British household an additional £700 between 2031 and 2050.

Keith Clarke CBE, chairman of Tidal Lagoon (Swansea Bay) Plc, branded the decision: "The treatment of the pathfinder tidal lagoon makes a mockery of a supposed new industrial strategy for the UK that pledges to back the disruptors and embrace new industries for a new future.

"The reality is that indecision sucks the life out of innovation and timid leadership will condemn Brexit Britain to the 20th Century."

As for what this means for the already scaled-down Docks office in Gloucester it is early days.

"The board will be meeting in two days' time to consider its next steps," said Mr Clarke, adding the company had requested a meeting with Government.

Mark Shorrock, founder and chief executive of the company, said: "The Secretary of State is clearly misinformed as his briefing today (June 25) was very misleading.

"He says Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will cost three times nuclear. This is incorrect. Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon will add just 30 pence to consumers' bills whereas Hinkley Point C will add £12 or more to bills.

"The UK's second proposed tidal lagoon at Cardiff would be 88 times less expensive for consumers than Hinkley. Furthermore, the £1.3 billion build cost of Swansea is privately funded. It is not a cost to consumers as suggested by Mr Clark.

"This is a vote of no interest in Wales, no confidence in British manufacturing and no care for the planet. Justified through a faux concern for consumers who would readily invest in a British tidal power industry for today and for future generations."

Richard Graham MP, MP for Gloucester and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Marine Energy & Tidal Lagoons, said the Government's decision to not go ahead with the proposed Swansea Bay pilot project needs further explanation and debate.

"The discrepancies between Charles Hendry's strategic financial analysis in his review on the role of Tidal Lagoons and the figures used today from the secretary of State are huge."

"When the government says the cost will be £700 per consumer energy bill that's over a very long period. The actual cost per year per consumer is 30p. That is a fraction of the £18 billion subsidies that offshore wind has enjoyed or the cost of new nuclear energy from Hinkley Point."

Mr Graham called for complete transparency of the Government's financial models, and a full response to the Hendry Review, eighteen months after it was published.

"Do they want marine energy and if so how are they going to get it? What are we going to do to take advantage of one of our strongest resources?"