PM slammed the brakes on £18bn Hinkley deal due to China fears
THERESA May took the stunning decision to delay the Hinkley Point nuclear power station amid national security concerns about Chinese involvement in the £18billion project, it emerged last night.
The Prime Minister also wants to personally review the deal – thrashed out under exChancellor George Osborne – to ensure that it provides value for money for the taxpayer.
Government insiders say Mr Osborne – sacked by Mrs May from her new Cabinet – had proved himself desperate to butter up the Chinese.
They also said it would be ‘irresponsible’ for a new PM not
‘Desperate desire for Chinese trade’
to look at the small-print, which includes paying double the going rate per unit of energy.
Mrs May also has concerns that future plans for major infrastructure projects in the UK had become too reliant on Chinese investment under Mr Osborne.
The decision to review Hinkley – announced barely an hour after the board of energy giant EDF had narrowly approved the investment – left the Frenchowned company reeling.
EDF and the energy industry had ‘100 per cent’ expected London to sign-off the deal yesterday.
Mrs May had hinted to French President Francois Hollande last week that she could delay taking a final decision until September – but EDF was kept in the dark, despite the French government holding an 85 per cent stake in the firm.
Yesterday, EDF had to cancel a planned party for 150 VIPs in a marquee on the Somerset coast – sending home two Chinese dignitaries who were due to attend.
Mrs May is said to have specifically raised concerns with Mr Hollande about Chinese involvement in the deal.
The Chinese nuclear industry, run by Beijing, had agreed to take a 33.5 per cent stake.
MPs pointed to national security concerns raised by Nick Timothy, Mrs May’s chief of staff, in the months before they entered No 10 as one major explanation for the delay.
In an article highly critical of Mr Osborne for cosying up to China, he said ‘rational concerns about national security are being swept to one side because of the desperate desire for Chinese trade and investment’.
Joel Kenrick, a former political adviser in the Energy Department, said scepticism about the Chinese involvement was likely to be a key factor in the delay – not least because Mrs May was home secretary for six years. He added: ‘I’d be surprised if the Home Office and its related organisations didn’t have concerns about that.’
Barry Gardiner, Labour’s energy spokesman, said he also believed Mrs May had halted the deal because of Chinese involvement.
He added: ‘Delaying the decision on Hinkley at the 11th hour shows a disregard for the 25,000 British jobs that depend on it and sends a disastrous message to the investor community that this Government is incapable of managing large scale infrastructure projects.
The delay was known to only a handful of the most senior No10 advisers – with even Chancellor Philip Hammond kept out of the loop.
Ian Liddell-Grainger, the Tory MP whose constituency includes Hinkley Point, said: ‘Theresa May wants to make sure it’s the right job and that’s what she’s doing.’