The decision by Theresa May, the new UK prime minister, to postpone approval for Hinkley Point nuclear power station, apparently because of security concerns about Chinese investors involved in the project, raises questions about another of her predecessors’ flagships: George Osborne’s “Northern Powerhouse”.
Wooing Chinese investment was central to the former chancellor of the exchequer’s plan to harness the collective strength of northern England’s cities and so to rebalance the economy and devolve powers from Whitehall. If Hinkley is cancelled and a promised “golden era” of UK-China commercial relations comes to nought, the Powerhouse will look underfunded.
Jim O’Neill, Treasury minister and former Goldman Sachs chief economist, a driving force behind the Northern Powerhouse, is considering quitting the government over Mrs May’s approach to China.