Why have the dynamics of the Hinkley Point C negotiation changed since the EU referendum, asks Tim Malloch
- Unless and until the UK specifically rules out joining the EEA as part of the Brexit process it would be prudent to assume that the existing EU rules on state aid will continue to apply to the UK. Accordingly, Brexit does not mean saying auf wiedersehen to the Austrian state aid challenge to HPC or indeed to similar state aid challenges to any future nuclear projects in the UK.
Before the EU referendum result, the UK government appeared to be driving the pace of the Hinkley Point C (HPC) negotiations. At the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee (the ECCSC) hearing on 24 May 2016 Andrea Leadsom, then a Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) energy minister, stated that the UK government wanted EDF to take a final investment decision as soon as possible (see Question 211 Oral evidence: UK New Nuclear: Status Update, HC 176, 24 May 2016).
Following the EU referendum result the momentum seems to have been shifted.
