EDF’s chief executive has said the company is “ready” to start building Hinkley Point C as soon as the Government gives the go-ahead.

Vincent de Rivaz said he understood the new government’s hesitance in rubber-stamping the nuclear power plant in an open letter to staff reported by the BBC.

The French energy giant gave the final approval for the £18billion project in Somerset on Thursday, but the Government then said it wanted more time to study the details.

EDF’s final investment decision for the Hinkley Point C power station triggers the start of the second stage of consultation for the proposed Suffolk plant.

But on Friday confusion reigned over the future of Britain’s nuclear industry yesterday, with community leaders in Suffolk saying they would be seeking immediate meetings with EDF Energy to discuss the next stage for Sizewell C.

There are fears the consultation will be delayed further while the Government makes a final decision on the Somerset project, but councils, campaign groups and residents in east Suffolk are hoping this will now take place quickly, revealing more of the detail of the £14billion project.

Mr de Rivas said: “The new prime minister has been in post for just 16 days. Her full cabinet has been in post even fewer. We can understand their need to take a little time. We fully respect the Prime Minister’s method.”

The chief executive said his message was one of confidence and promised the project would deliver high-quality quality jobs across the country when it was finally built.

He said: “The very good news is that we are ready. The board’s decision means that when the Government is ready to go ahead, we are ready too.”

Critics believe the Government has been stung by criticism of the amount of money EDF will be paid for generating power from Hinkley – £92.50 per megawatt hour of electricity generated.

It is thought there are also security concerns about the role of the Chinese state – which has a one third share in the project – investing in critical infrastructure in the UK.

Geoff Holdcroft, deputy leader of Suffolk Coastal and chairman of its Sizewell task group, said talks would begin immediately with EDF.

He said: “We will be pressing them hard to do a full stage two consultation for as long a period as possible.

“Stage two consultation will hopefully start in late September and run until Christmas. We will hopefully have a joint cabinet meeting involving the district and county councils so that we can make a joint response and will invite towns and parishes to those discussions.”

John Dugmore, chief executive of Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the investment decision for Hinkley but was unhappy with the Government delay.

He said: “This could have helped to unlock further progress for Sizewell C. However, the UK Government’s decision to review the project is unhelpful and counter-productive. It creates unnecessary uncertainty among Suffolk’s business community at a time when they need and deserve a boost.

“We are writing to the relevant minister Greg Clark MP to express our deep concerns about this delay and to lobby the Government to keep this extra time for reflection to an absolute minimum before approving the Hinkley Point C project so as to free up progress on the Sizewell C proposals.”

Tom Greatrex, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said: “The Government’s decision to take longer to look at the contract does not change the fundamentals – that by 2030, two-thirds of our electricity generation capacity will have retired, and we need to replace it with low carbon and reliable power for the future to improve our energy security and meet our commitments on carbon emissions targets.

“The most important thing is that the board of EDF and its investors have the finance in place to enable them to give the go-ahead for the project and that is very good news.

“We now need the new ministers to quickly endorse the decision to show they are serious about industrial strategy, building new infrastructure by securing inward investment to create our low-carbon energy supplies of the future.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said the “dithering” over Hinkley was sending the wrong signal to investors after the Brexit vote.

She said: “Our economy needs certainty, not vacillation.

“Of course we must ensure that any project on this scale gives good value for the taxpayer, but successive Conservative-led governments have had years to get this decision right.”