Billions freed from EU red tape will be used to fund new nuclear power stations
BILLIONS of pounds of investors dosh freed from Brussels red tape will be used to fund new nuclear power stations, The Sun can reveal.
Cash-strapped Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will hail it as a “textbook Brexit benefit” in his big pre-Budget speech tomorrow - with the Sizewell C reactor in Suffolk the first big project in line for the money.
The European Union's Solvency II financial regulations limit how much capital big insurance funds can invest.
Big firms like Legal & General and Aviva are required to hold vast reserves, but Hunt’s reforms will reduce that amount.
After months of negotiations with City regulators, MPs last year agreed to tear up the rules to free up billions for big infrastructure projects.
The Association of British Insurers say the Chancellor’s reforms are expected to unlock up to £100 billion of private investment over the next ten years into UK infrastructure and clean energy.
Read More on Brexit
Billions of pounds of private investment from British and US insurance companies can now replace funding lost from Sizewell C’s original backers China Nuclear Power - who were booted off the project last year amid national security concerns.
Last night a Treasury source told The Sun: “The Chancellor's plan to reform this one EU directive will unlock £100 billion - it's a textbook Brexit benefit.”