Christopher Mahon, Investment Manager and Director of Asset Allocation Research at Barings:
“The Chancellor’s infrastructure plan is upside down. The treasury has already committed eye watering sums of money to programmes such as HS2, Heathrow & Hinkley that won’t be completed for another 20 years. Billions upon billions have been promised, with those projects costing £56bn, £19bn, and £18bn respectively.
“Meanwhile only token amounts of money are being spent on practical projects that are needed today such as easing rail and road bottlenecks. For example, the £2bn announced today is fifty times smaller than the amounts committed to the 3 mega projects alone. This is despite the Treasury’s own analysis showing these smaller less glamorous projects give the bigger payback to the taxpayer. So it is a great shame that the Chancellor continues to be seduced by the glamour of the mega and ignores the utility and timeliness of the micro.
“Britain seems to be locked into a type of topsy turvy spending dogma which results in the UK’s well known productivity stagnation.”
