Chancellor Rachel Reeves will attempt to win back the confidence of voters this week with the launch of a £725billion infrastructure strategy for a “decade of national renewal”. This comes on the heels of Opinium polling showing more than a third of voters (36%) think Labour prioritised the wrong things in last week’s spending review and a majority (56%) think the economy will get worse over the next year.
The infrastructure plan is billed as a “defining moment” for the Government which will create a “shift from managed decline to purposeful renewal”.
Ms Reeves said: “The British people voted for change – and this is how we deliver it. For too long, our infrastructure – our schools and hospitals, or our roads and bridges – have been left to crumble, holding back communities and stunting economic growth.
“This was a dereliction of duty by previous governments overseeing an era of managed decline, but it ends with this one.
“We are investing in Britain’s future, brick by brick, road by road and track by track. The strategy will rebuild people’s pride in their homes, while growing the economy, and putting more money in people’s pockets as we deliver our plan for change.”
Opinium’s polling shows the Chancellor is stuck on an approval rating of -37%.
James Crouch, the pollster’s head of policy and public affairs, said: “This spending review was another major political moment where the government failed to move the dial.”
The Government argues infrastructure has received “too little attention and investment” and delivery has been “too costly and too slow”. The establishment of a National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) is intended to ensure projects are delivered on time and on budget.
Becky Wood, the chief executive of the new body, said: “Infrastructure is the backbone supporting our nation – from the roads that connect us to the houses we live in, and from the schools and hospitals that serve our communities, to the energy networks that power our lives. This strategy is a decisive step forward for our nation’s infrastructure, providing the stability that businesses, investors and communities need, as well as tackling head on the fundamental issues that the sector has experienced over recent years.
The Government is betting that investment in infrastructure will deliver major results, putting £15.6billion into transport upgrades; and £39billion into social and affordable housing; £14.2billion for the Sizewell C nuclear power station.
Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: “The Chancellor is lurching from strategy to strategy, review to review, desperately trying to paper over the damage she’s done to the public finances. With inflation up, growth down, and unemployment rising, the economy is heading in one direction and that is backwards.
“Now Rachel Reeves is unable to guarantee that taxes won’t rise this autumn to pay for Labour’s chaos. The Labour self-defeating spiral of high spending, high borrowing and high tax must end. Only the Conservatives under new leadership have the plans and values of low tax and sound money to do that.”
