Chancellor unveils new infrastructure commission

CHANCELLOR George Osborne is to pledge £5bn and will set up a new body to mastermind major infrastructure projects when he takes centre stage at the Conservative conference in Manchester today.

The independent National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) will be chaired by former Labour Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, who was policy chief in Tony Blair’s government before serving in Gordon Brown’s cabinet.

In a speech which has been pre-released to the national media, Osborne will say he plans to “shake Britain out of its inertia”.

The NIC will firstly concentrate on London’s transport system, connections between the Northern cities, and modernising the energy network, financed by selling off land, buildings and other government assets.

Osborne will say to the conference: “Where would Britain be if we had never built railways or runways, power stations or new homes? Where will we be in the future if we stop building them now?

“I’m not prepared to turn round to my children – or indeed anyone else’s child – and say ‘I’m sorry, we didn’t build for you.’ We have to shake Britain out of its inertia on the projects which matter most.”

Osborne has also unveiled plans to integrate 89 local authority pension funds in England and Wales into six regional funds to try to encourage them to invest in major infrastructure projects.

He is also expected to admit the idea for the NIC was first proposed by Labour in its manifesto for May’s general election.

Lord Adonis, a Social Democrat councillor and Liberal Democrat election candidate before joining Labour, quoted by the BBC, said: “Without big improvements to its transport and energy systems, Britain will grind to a halt.

“Major infrastructure projects like Crossrail and building major new power stations span governments and Parliaments. I hope it will be possible to forge a wide measure of agreement across society and politics on key infrastructure requirements for the next 20 to 30 years.”

The CBI director-general John Cridland, responding to the announcement, said: “Updating the UK’s infrastructure is critical to sustainable growth and productivity, and we’ve long called for an independent body to assess our long-term needs.

“This new Commission is welcome but we must not duck the important infrastructure decisions that need taking now, particularly on expanding aviation capacity in the South East.

“Business will want to see a decision on airport capacity by the end of the year, in line with the Government’s commitment.”