That is not quite true. The government planned to pay for about four coal and gas fired power stations to be on stand by but the EU prevented this move saying it was unfair subsidy. Now a government would not pay for this if every thing was onky dory.
Ah well, that's the rule of law for you - even Governments have to abide by the rules - and before you start, yes, the UK did vote in favour of the legislation when it went through the European Parliament.
The Capacity Market and its associated auctions were set up precisely because the government had to come up with a legal way of ensuring generators were able to compete fairly in a free market to provide the necessary backup generation capacity. The market provides ongoing energy security for the UK so future governments will not have to pay themselves to keep power stations in reserve.
Loads of information
here
