Hinkley Point nuclear power contract 'may be invalid'

Source: BBC

The contract for building the UK's first nuclear power station in a generation might not be "valid", a leading legal academic has warned.

Former Liberal Democrat MP David Howarth, who lectures at Cambridge, said the deal with EDF over a plant at Hinkley Point could be seen as an "unjustifiable subsidy" under EU law.

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Mr Howarth added that English law could also be violated, as "the contract simply says what price it will get if it happens to supply a nuclear power station", rather than compelling the company to build one.

Setting the price paid for the energy produced could also undermine the "long-standing legal doctrine that contracts which unduly bind the future discretion of governments to act in the public interest are void as being against public policy".

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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-27291087