The National Infrastructure Commission should work with regulators and other industry stakeholders to create a new delivery authority responsible for creating and delivering UK infrastructure, a business leader charged with developing a national industrial strategy has said.
The authority, like the Bank of England, should have its objectives set and then be independent of government interference, John Jeffcock, chief executive of consultant Winmark, said.
Jeffcock is leading a private-sector led approach to developing a British industrial strategy with over 40 stakeholders and participants, including Energy & Utility Skills, the Office of Nuclear Regulation, National Grid, EDF, BT, Hanson, and several regulators.
He said the recent decision by the Government to scale back HS2 was creating the impression the UK could not follow through on plans for infrastructure, which was having a negative impact on potential partners overseas.
He said: “The chairs of the regulators and Sir John Armitt should come together to decide on what an industrial strategy body has the power to do and how it should be governed.”
He added it was clear the HS2 decision had been made without consulting Northern Powerhouse, Manchester or other infrastructure stakeholders in the regions.
He added that since Liz Truss’s government, the UK’s reputation had been damaged by delaying or scaling back major decisions such as the phasing out of petrol and diesel vehicles.
Anecdotally, he said, major European companies were cancelling meetings with government as a result.
Jeffcock said that while it was relatively straightforward to develop a coherent plan for transport or energy at a national level, local and regional influences made executing it formidably complex.
“What we need is an industrial body with power to execute strategy without political interference, and that can balance the competing needs of the entire country,” he said.
“We need to get some adults in the room to decide on how an industrial body’s governance should work, and it needs to have real power. There are going to have to be trade-offs that politicians won’t make because they need votes.
“Britain used to have a reputation for really good governance and doing what we said we were going to do. That reputation has been damaged.”