Electricity from planned nuclear plant ‘could all end up being exported to countries with fewer renewables, like France, at a price massively subsidised by Britain’s hard-working bill payers’.

It is a claim that, if true, would mean Britain is about to make one of the biggest economic mistakes in its history, a blunder that would damage our country’s finances for decades and almost inevitably cause the Government to fall.

For, according to Keith Barnham, an emeritus professor of physics, the total subsidy paid to the planned Hinkley Point nuclear power station by the British taxpayer could reach a staggering £53 billion over its lifetime – and the main beneficiaries will be French.

He argues that such is the likely growth of renewables that the UK will not actually need the Hinkley’s electricity, so it will be sold abroad. And, he says, the most likely customers are in France, home of energy giant EDF, which is expected to build the plant. …

… If Hinkley starts in 2025 with the performance Department for Energy and Climate Change expects, the nuclear subsidy will be around £820m each year on the ‘no-subsidy’ renewable scenario.

“The subsidy will double should the second Hinkley reactor come on stream around 2030, leading to a total bill, over the 35 years of the guarantee, of £53bn, which could all end up supporting low electricity prices abroad.”