The wedding has been called off. The marquee had been put up, the champagne was laid out, some of the guests had flown in — but then, at the very last minute, the unhappy couple decided that they could not live together after all.

That summarises all too accurately what happened last week as the board of the French power utility EDF approved, albeit by a very thin majority, an ￡18bn investment in the long-delayed nuclear plant at Hinkley Point, only to find it had been abandoned at the altar. Two hours after the EDF announcement, the UK government decided to hold another review of the plan, knowing full well that a full scale celebration had been planned for the following day.

What happens now? It is hard to see how the wedding can be rearranged. There can be only be two reasons for the review. First, the government is unhappy with the price that had been provisionally agreed. Second, that a new administration in Downing Street dislikes the idea that the Chinese as investors in the Hinkley project should be given the right to operate their own nuclear station at Bradwell in Essex.