Back in 1997, the incoming Labour government inherited an
awful legacy from the Thatcher and Major Conservative governments. Our
infrastructure was collapsing. School and hospital buildings were falling
apart, and roads and railways were crumbling. It required a huge commitment of
public investment to begin to put things right.
Since the arrival of the current Coalition government in
2010, it has cut capital infrastructure investment by £5.6bn. It’s little
wonder that construction industry orders and output have reduced dramatically
and that there are 84.000 fewer construction workers in jobs than 3 years ago.
Both the CBI and the TUC have been consistent in arguing for
capital investment. As the CBI said “our creaking infrastructure still lags
behind other countries and we cannot afford further delays in getting spades in
the ground.”
Anyone listening to Cameron and Osborne might have thought
they’d listened and got the message as, last week, they launched ‘the most
comprehensive, ambitious and long-lasting capital investment plans’.
The truth is disturbingly different.
- In May 2011, having
slashed the existing school building programme, the government promised
261 schools will be rebuilt. Today, construction has started on just one
(1);
- Last September, the
government announced a plan to get £20bn of pension fund investment in infrastructure.
Today, just £1bn has been committed;
- Last year, the
government promised that ‘tens of thousands of households’ would
have signed up to the Green Deal. Today, just four (4) households have
signed;
- In
2015, we will actually be spending £10 billion
less on infrastructure than we spent in 2010, and it is to be cut in each
successive year
- Investment in the
government funded construction pipeline is set to fall by almost a quarter
(23 per cent) over the four years from 2011-12 to 2014-15
Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has
admitted that “the gap between intention, announcement and delivery is quite
significant”. Do you know what? I agree with Nick. But what seems to be
escaping his notice is that it is Nick who is making the announcements and
failing in the delivery.
