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Live updates: May delays nuclear power station decision

Theresa May has delayed a decision on whether the UK's first new nuclear power station in a generation should be built.

Energy giant EDF earlier approved the deal for the £18 billion Hinkley Point power station but our Business Editor Joel Hills learnt late on Thursday that it was "not all systems go".

ITV News' Chris Ship said the prime minister had accepted French President Francois Hollande's offer of more time "to make up her mind".

A planned press conference with EDF's chief executive on Friday morning has been cancelled.

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May's Hinkley Point delay 'bewildering and bonkers'

An artist's impression issued by EDF of plans for the new Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. Credit: PA

Theresa May's decision to delay signing a deal to build the UK's first nuclear power station for a generation is "bewildering and bonkers", the GMB union's national secretary for energy has said.

Justin Bowden said the decision to put the £18 billion Hinkley Point project on hold puts thousands of jobs at risk.

French energy giant EDF gave the final approval to go ahead with the build on Thursday, but the government said it wanted more time to study the details.

Theresa May's decision to review the go-ahead on Hinkley Point C is bewildering and bonkers. After years of procrastination, what is required is decisive action not dithering and more delay.

This unnecessary hesitation is putting finance for the project in doubt and 25,000 new jobs at risk immediately after Brexit. It is a gross error of judgment and must be reversed.

Building Hinkley will not on its own make up for successive governments' failure to have in place a coherent energy policy, but it is a very important step along that road and, as GMB has been warning now for months, the country's energy capacity is already so fragile that if we have a cold winter there is a high likelihood we will experience power cuts.

– Justin Bowden, GMB union
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Live updates: May delays nuclear power station decision

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