Comment
Hinkley falters?
The Government surprised many with its 11th-hour announcement to review the decision on Hinkley Point C
The Government surprised many with its 11th-hour announcement to review the decision on Hinkley Point C. Emma Norris looks at the infrastructure implications and what this could signal about decision making in Theresa May's administration.
EDF’s highly anticipated final investment decision on Hinkley Point C – the £18bn project to build the UK’s first new nuclear power plant in 20 years – was taken yesterday after much speculation about the future of the deal in the aftermath of Brexit.
But instead of getting on the train to today’s planned signing ceremony, the Government announced that it wanted to review the project and would delay its decision until early autumn.
This latest twist in the long and complex story of Hinkley Point C highlights the weaknesses of infrastructure decision making in the UK and the uncertainty in the post Brexit landscape. So what does this mean now for Hinkley Point – and what could be the consequences for the rest of government major projects?
Further evidence of a ‘policy pause’
The decision to review Hinkley is further evidence that the Government is undertaking a 'policy pause' in a number of priority and high profile areas:
- Universal Credit – whilst avoiding an outright reset – has had a timetable extension to 2022 to provide more time for implementation.
- A number of social reform programmes, including David Cameron’s ‘life chances’ agenda and the National Funding Formula for schools, have been delayed.
- Infrastructure project decisions have been put on hold – including the long-awaited decision on whether to build a third runway at Heathrow – without even any indication of the timetable.
- Topic
- Policy making
- Keywords
- Energy Infrastructure Public spending
- Administration
- May government
- Publisher
- Institute for Government