A company which advised the UK government over the Hinkley Point nuclear power project has been accused of a potential conflict of interest after it emerged the same company was also working for EDF, The Times has learnt.
Leigh Fisher, a management consultancy, worked as an adviser to the Department of Energy and Climate Change on a 2013 deal to pay EDF double the current wholesale price of electricity for the power produced by Hinkley for 35 years.
Documents show the group was paid £1.2 million for its advice on the deal despite the UK arm of Jacobs Engineering Group, a US firm which also owns Leigh Fisher, supporting EDF on the Hinkley project. Tender documents obtained by The Times under the Freedom of Information