Rachel Reeves, shadow chief secretary to the Treasury and Labour MP for Leeds West told Parliament: “Only 14 per cent of the 576 projects listed in the government’s infrastructure pipeline have started and just 1 per cent of those are said to be operational.
“The government’s record on infrastructure is a complete and utter shambles. Wherever we look, the strategy is failing to deliver – a perfect storm of uncertainty, incompetence and delay.”
She pointed out that companies, investors and industry bodies had written to the Chancellor asking him to set a firm decarbonisation target for 2030 to give investors the confidence they needed.
Reeves quoted comments from the Institution of Engineering and Technology which warned that “short-term uncertainty around UK energy policy is very unhelpful and has the potential to delay much-needed investment in all forms of energy infrastructure.”
And she noted a poll by KPMG indicated that “two thirds of businesses believe that the UK’s energy and water infrastructure is unlikely to get any better because of uncertainty about the policy framework”.
Sajid Javid, the economic secretary to the Treasury, insisted: “This is a government with a long-term strategy for infrastructure. Our national infrastructure plan — the first time a Government have set out such a plan — identifies 550 projects with a value of more than £310 billion.
“It has seen us publish an investment pipeline that gives certainty to investors, which is absolutely key; prioritize projects through the creation of a top 40 list; and utilize a dedicated Cabinet committee to ensure infrastructure delivery.”