No government project should be exempt from review

 It is surely right that in a time of financial stress, the Treasury should insist on major capital spending coming under review. So it is right that Chancellor Hunt should launch such a review. An early official briefing included the Sizewell C nuclear power plant in this, but this was denied by the government on the same day. Why? Are the Tories in thrall to China? Or is there a secret deal with France: cooperation over cross-channel migration d  epends on continued subsidy for the massive experiment on the East Anglian coast. In addition to the uncertainties about the viability of the design, there are doubts about the suitability of the location, exposed as it is to coastal erosion. There is also the problem of supplying cooling water,

It is not as if EDF is the only provider of a nuclear solution to the problem of providing a continuous, non-carbon-based, supply of electricity for the future. Rolls-Royce's SMRs show a way forward with fewer uncertainties and one wonders why the regulatory process (currently estimated at two years) takes so long.

HS2 is also coming under review, but only the northern part, where surely investment will provide more substantial and faster pay-backs than the London-Birmingham section. Links to the capital from the Midlands may be in need of supplementing, but they exist. Trans-Pennine business and industry is crying out for new routes and connectivity. Slowing work on the southern section, whose appeal is largely to the commuter, and prioritising the northern is a surer way to the growth that the government is aiming for.