Government must not squander this ‘Golden Age’ of infrastructure investment
Heathrow Non-Executive Director and former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England Rachel Lomax has urged the Government to grasp the nettle on airport capacity or risk undermining investor confidence in the new National Infrastructure Commission.
Addressing the British Chambers of Commerce Annual Conference, she called on the Government to get on with implementing the Airports Commission’s unanimous recommendation for Heathrow expansion, during what should be a ‘golden age of infrastructure investment’, precipitated on historically low interest rates. She said:
“We should be living through a golden age of infrastructure investment. I believe this is George Osborne’s dream, when he talks about ‘getting Britain building again’ to ‘ensure it is ‘fit for the future’. But there is a real risk that this golden opportunity will be squandered."
If after all the Airport Commission’s labours, the Government still finds itself unable to grasp the nettle and address what is undeniably a major pinch point in our national connectivity, it will put a big question mark for investors over whether the NIC can succeed. And they will draw their own conclusions about the political risks of investing in UK infrastructure. If the Davies report is allowed to gather dust, it can only undermine the credibility of the National Infrastructure Commission and make its work much more difficult."
