UK’s AI vision faces infrastructure reality check July 25, 2025 The UK government has set ambitions to become a global leader in AI research, safety and commercialisation. Over £2.5bn has been committed to compute infrastructure, with new supercomputers being built in Edinburgh and Bristol, and “AI Growth Zones” being launched across regions including Greater Manchester and the West Midlands. But a growing chorus of voices [...]
Labour moots breaking Heathrow third runway ‘doom loop’ with new powers July 7, 2025 The Labour government is exploring how to break Heathrow’s third runway “doom loop” via new parliamentary powers that would fast-track big projects. Ministers are examining whether legislation could be enacted to enable the UK’s biggest hub to bypass parts of the planning process. The proposals, first reported by the Times, would also apply to other [...]
CMA to probe delivery of UK road and railway projects as costs soar June 19, 2025 The UK’s competition watchdog will launch a review into the delivery of UK road and railway infrastructure amid widespread delays and cost overruns. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said its study would focus on “persistent issues around cost and delivery” of schemes across the country. It comes a day after the government delayed HS2 [...]
Infrastructure strategy: Hospitals and schools focus of funding push June 19, 2025 The government will plough £10bn a year into restoring Britain’s crumbling schools, hospitals and prisons as part of a long-awaited infrastructure strategy outlining the state’s investment priorities over the next decade. Over £6bn a year will be devoted to hospital maintenance over the next decade, in a move that the Treasury said will cut waiting [...]
The truth about infrastructure: investors need a return June 19, 2025 The government is set to unveil it’s 10-year infrastructure strategy. To make it a success, they must dial down the negative rhetoric – especially when it comes to water, says Jon Phillips The government has placed private investment at the heart of its growth mission. So, today’s 10-year infrastructure strategy – setting out the country’s [...]
Reeves to lay out 10-year infrastructure plan worth £725bn June 15, 2025 Chancellor Reeves is set to deliver a 10-year infrastructure strategy plan which will lay out efforts to boost growth and upgrade services across the UK. The new blueprint for UK infrastructure will come around a week after Reeves delivered the Spending Review, which marked out £190bn in extra government spending commitments for the years between [...]
Majority of Labour MPs oppose Reeves’ fiscal rules June 2, 2025 Two thirds of Labour MPs oppose Rachel Reeves’ fiscal rules, and twenty percent would prefer tax rises over spending cuts. Polling by Survation, shared with The Times, showed that 64 per cent of Labour MPs said Reeves’ rules inhibit ministers’ abilities to meet their objectives, including: raising living standards, improving public services, and combatting climate [...]
Blue collar brain drain to Saudi is harming major infrastructure projects May 20, 2025 An exodus of talent from Britain’s infrastructure sector to the Middle East is harming the delivery of major projects in the UK, according to the head of a key labour supplier. “Certain skills are missing in every level really when you look at it,” the boss of London-listed Hercules, which specialises in supplying labour to [...]
Spring Statement 2025: Housing reform to pave way for GDP growth March 26, 2025 The government’s changes to housebuilding will result in a £6.8bn boost to GDP by 2029, according to OBR figures included in the Spring Statement. Chancellor Rachel Reeves called the forecast the “biggest ever” positive growth impact that the OBR has projected from a non-fiscal government policy. Changes to the UK’s housebuilding market were a cornerstone [...]
Will the government’s £2bn affordable housing top-up make a difference? March 25, 2025 The government has ploughed a ‘top-up’ investment of £2bn into the UK’s affordable housing sector as part of its pledge to revitalise residential construction. Officials say it will get working people and families into secure homes, while detractors say it doesn’t go far enough and might even be less money than the sector had anticipated. [...]