Infrastructure could be rare success story for Labour
The decision to allow a second runway at Gatwick is entirely sensible and most welcome.
As the Chancellor said yesterday on her visit to the airport, the development “will mean that people going on holiday will have a greater choice of destinations [and] it will mean lower costs for a family holiday.” More importantly, she added that it will bring “more good jobs paying decent wages through this injection of cash into our economy.”
Quite how the additional 100,000 flights a year squares with the UK’s legally binding (and poorly thought-out) climate commitments is for another day – or a judicial review, at least. Ministers, when pushed, mumble something about Sustainable Aviation Fuels – but the technology remains a feel-good fantasy. For now, we should welcome the fact that the government seems content to have the fight and isn’t in the mood to roll over when the NIMBYs moan.
I don’t often identify opportunities to say “well done” to this government so I’ll say it clearly off the back of the Gatwick decision: well done. And this follows last week’s flurry of announcements on AI and energy infrastructure.
It must be said that long-term infrastructure development is probably the most promising part of the government’s entire agenda. Downing Street certainly thinks so, and last night they sent out a list of 25 “major infrastructure approvals” that have been given the thumbs up since Keir Starmer came to power. True, no fewer than 10 of them are solar farms (and surely all of them have their roots in pre-Labour years) but there are some solid examples in the list, including the Lower Thames Crossing, Luton airport’s expansion and some much-need motorway upgrades. They’ve also given the nod to a third runway at Heathrow but it doesn’t make the list as rival bids are yet to be formally assessed.
These grand projects are great but, unfortunately, when it comes to the more mundane task of building houses, the government has less to shout about. Last night the Chancellor insisted that they will meet their promise of building 1.5m new homes this parliament, but few expect it to happen.
That said, with plans announced for a ‘default yes’ to be granted to developments on brownfield sites, we could yet see some progress. Much hangs on the completion of the delayed Planning and Infrastructure Bill, currently being picked over by special interest groups, but the Chancellor says she’s “backing growth, not NIMBYs or newts” – and on that, I say all power to her.