May makes point over Hinkley deal
THERESA May blocked the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant to prove she will be no pushover as she tours the world seeking postBrexit trade deals, it has emerged.
Well-placed sources insisted the Prime Minister’s decision to delay the £18billion deal did not mean she was about to pull the plug on it.
They said she was determined to get good value now that the UK was moving to a position where it would be free to negotiate its trade deals outside the EU.
‘Theresa wants to win as much new international business as possible, but they have to be value for money for the UK,’ said a Government insider.
‘Checking the fine print of the Hinkley deal sends a clear signal. We will do business on terms that suit us. We are not holding out a begging bowl.’
In a separate development, it was revealed Mrs May privately attacked ‘gung-ho’ George Osborne at Cabinet meetings over China’s role in the Hinkley project during the Tory-Lib Dem Coalition Government. Former Lib Dem Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable said: ‘Certainly, when we were in government, Theresa May was quite clear she was unhappy about the rather gung-ho approach to Chinese investment that George Osborne in particular was promoting and [she] raised objections to Hinkley at that time.’
The Mail on Sunday understands that Mrs May also registered a written protest at the Chinese aspect of the Hinkley deal during the Coalition government.
‘She could not have made it clearer that she wanted much more rigorous checks on all foreign investment generally, especially countries like China,’ said a former minister.