Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether Infrastructure UK has attached a BB+ non-investment grade rating to the Hinkley Point nuclear project in Somerset.

The European Commission’s Closing Decision of October 2014 records that, as a result of the protections for debt built into the financing agreements, Infrastructure UK believed the Hinkley Point project should be able to achieve a rating equivalent to BB+/Ba1 during the construction period. It was not possible to conclude the originally envisaged guarantee for £16 billion but the Chancellor announced in September 2015 an initial guarantee for debt of £2 billion which will be repaid in December 2020 by the shareholders, EDF and CGN. There is no obligation to issue further guarantees for the project thereafter.