New pressure group Fair Energy makes formal complaint to European commission over what it says are government subsidies for nuclear newbuild

A group of politicians and environmentalists are trying to block the building of new nuclear power stations in Britain by submitting a formal complaint to the European commission.

The challenge has been prepared by lawyers acting for a new campaign group, Fair Energy, and is focused on what they claim are seven subsidies potentially on offer to EDF and others.

One of the largest incentives is the cap on liabilities for nuclear accidents but Fair Energy also points to the fact that uranium is exempted from wider taxes on fuels in the UK, and that government will help with the costs of dealing with nuclear waste.

The campaign, which is supported by Green party MP Caroline Lucas, Keith Taylor MEP, French pressure group Sortir du Nucléaire and others, says the complaint "may" be followed by legal action in the courts.

"The European Union has opted for opening up the energy market and is vigilant about creating a level playing field," said Dörte Fouquet, the lawyer who has been leading the preparation of the complaint. "In this regard, the commission over the last years repeatedly underlined that distortion of the market is to a large extent caused by subsidies to the incumbents in the energy sector.

"This complaint aims to shed some light on the recent shift in the energy policy of the United Kingdom where strong signals point to yet another set of subsidies to the nuclear power plant operators," she added.

Lucas, who is MP for Brighton Pavilion and leader of the Green party in England and Wales, said she had no doubt the government's planned electricity market reform is set to rig the energy market in favour of nuclear, with the introduction of a carbon price floor likely to result in huge windfall handouts of around £50m a year to existing nuclear generators.

She added: "Despite persistent denials by ministers, it's clear that this is a subsidy by another name, which makes a mockery of the coalition pledge not to gift public money to this already established industry. If these subsidies are found to be unlawful, I trust the European commission will take action and prevent the UK's nuclear plans from seriously undermining the shift towards new green energy."