UK will lose billions in infrastructure projects if it leaves EU

Prime Minister David Cameron says a vote to leave the EU will put the brakes on crucial UK infrastructure projects.

Prime Minister David Cameron has warned that a loss of European Investment Bank funding will result in the UK giving up billions of pounds of infrastructure investment every year.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) are an organisation which has invested more than £16Bn in UK projects over the last three years. If the UK vote to leave the EU, its membership with the organisation will be terminated.

There have been recent projects such as expansion facilities at University College London, for which the EIB last week announced funding of £280M for the project. They also confirmed £700M of finance for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, a major new sewer that will help clear up the river Thames.

These are two of many projects covering every region of the UK which have been supported by the bank, who operate outside of the UK budget and are financially autonomous. The EIB offers long term investment loans to EU member states on favourable terms, with the mission to support economic growth across Europe.

The Treasury analysis has highlighted Britain will be worse off by £4,300 a year per household without the EU, but this is the first time the government has warned of the significant impact that leaving the EIB will have on the country.

Prime Minister David Cameron said: “Vital projects across every region of the UK have been financed by the EIB. These make a huge difference locally, nationally, and sometimes globally – from the purchase of 65 new Super Express Trains for the East Coast Main Line; to investment in development of emission control technologies in Hertfordshire; to extension of the M8 motorway between Edinburgh and Glasgow; to the expansion of Oxford University’s research and teaching facilities.

“Not only would leaving the EU see us wave goodbye to this crucial funding – but, with a smaller economy hit by new trading barriers and job losses, it’s unlikely we’d be able to find that money from alternative sources.”

The UK has more than doubled the volume of investment it receives from the EIB since 2012, and in 2015 EIB lending in the UK totalled a record €7.77Bn, representing 11.2% of its overall lending to EU countries.

 

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