£1.3Bn to be announced in Autumn Statement to target road congestion

Chancellor Philip Hammond will announce in Autumn Statement extra £1.3Bn is to be spent on improving Britain’s roads.

Philip Hammond plans to spend £1.3Bn on road improvements, which will be announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement on Wednesday (23 November).

The statement will include £1.1Bn to cut road congestion and £220M for tackling “pinch points” on England’s motorways and major A roads, as part of a wider package of infrastructure investment worth billions of pounds.

The Treasury said investment in infrastructure and innovation to boost long-term economic growth following Brexit, would be central to the statement, with the government launching its industrial strategy in the coming weeks. Priority will be given to projects that can be built quickly and be immediately beneficial.

One project to be given the go-ahead will be £27M expressway connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge.

Road congestion costs the UK £13Bn every year, according to the Treasury, who claims that the equivalent of more than 100 wording days could be lost by 2040 unless action is taken now.

Rather than following in the footsteps of his predecessor George Osborne, Mr Hammond is expected to take a different approach, by announcing top-level spending decisions rather than full details of individual projects. Amid economic uncertainty during Brexit talks, he is set to adopt a more flexible approach.

“He believes the Treasury should be focused on its core job of economic policy, managing the public finances, and not doing spending departments’ jobs for them,” a spokesman said.

The Treasury also said the Autumn Statement would provide “targeted help to ordinary working families who are struggling to get by”.

Politicians in northern England are calling on Mr Hammond to prioritise the Northern Powerhouse rail over London’s Crossrail 2, with comments for Greater Manchester mayoral candidate Andy Burnham wearing the Chancellor that northern motorways are reaching “saturation point” and train capacity is “at the limit”.

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