Chancellor announces infrastructure funding

At the Conservative Party Conference on Monday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sajid Javid, made his speech covering a variety of issues from Brexit to the National Living Wage, taking a moment to discuss the importance of infrastructure.

Chancellor Javid specifically stated: “This government is going to build Britain’s future, and bring in a new infrastructure revolution. Infrastructure is the foundation of everything. It is the new road that connects local communities. The bus you need to get to school and the broadband that helps your small business trade around the world.

“The full benefits of our infrastructure revolution may not be felt for some time, but the work must start here and now. So today I can announce the first wave of this revolution, the good kind of revolution.

“Our roads are the arteries of our country. We will soon launch the new Roads Investment Strategy, with £29Bn committed for strategic and local roads over the next five years.

“And today we are getting the shovels out early on several important road projects, including upgrading the nearby M60 Simister Island, dualling the A66 Transpennine, and starting work on the A428 between Cambridge and Milton Keynes.

“Buses have not been given the attention they deserve from politicians, but they are still the backbone of our public transport in most of the country.

“Well, not only do you have a Chancellor with a well-known family connection to buses, but a PM who likes to paint them.

“At the Spending Round we allocated £220M to buses alone. This will form part of a National Bus Strategy next year. Rolling out new ‘superbus’ networks, expanding our fleet of low emission buses, and delivering better value for money for passengers.”

He added: “Bringing our country together also means rebalancing our economy and that is why the first big policy decision of this government was to support the development of Northern Powerhouse Rail.

“And we know it is no good just decreeing from on high what local areas need. Too many people already feel power is distant to them, be it in Brussels or Westminster.

“So, I can announce today we will bring forward a White Paper on further devolution in England, giving more local areas more local powers to drive investments in the infrastructure and services they know they need.”

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