A former chief scientist to the UK government has said that it is unrealistic to expect the private sector to fund the building of new nuclear power plants.

Sir David King said the only way Britain was ever going to wean itself off fossil fuels was for the government to lead investment in nuclear

“I think the Treasury feels this is up to the market to deliver, but actually this isn’t going to happen,” he said.

“Infrastructure on this scale is going to need public-private partnership with strong Treasury intervention to signal where the investment should take place.

Professor King said that he believed that “dogma had taken over from reason” in the nuclear debate in the UK, and added that a government-led investment in low-carbon energy infrastructure would stimulate the economy, create jobs and end the reliance on imported fossil fuels.

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