Hinkley Point: China incorporates seven London-based firms

Critics question why so many companies have been set up at Mayfair base of China's state-owned nuclear power firm

Beijing's growing confidence in its plans to help build new reactors at Hinkley in Somerset and Bradwell in Essex has been underlined by the recent incorporation of seven new Chinese nuclear-related firms in London.

It appears, however, that an agreement between China and its partner EDF of France to develop the first new reactors in Britain for 20 years has still not been signed.