Growth: the strategic state needs you.

Individual delivery challenges aside, this does feel like a significant break from what we have seen from successive governments who have viewed infrastructure projects in isolation, and as a technical, rather than political proposition. 

Infrastructure projects are always political. But the UK for many years has been very good at creating a commission or body to look for technical answers to ultimately very political questions.    

This is not to downplay the highly technical nature of infrastructure planning and delivery and the role of brilliant minds working on these projects across many disciplines. 

But a delayed decision or strategic pause to a proposed mega project has never really been caused by a technical detail not being available. Time will tell whether with the forthcoming Planning and Infrastructure Bill, the Chancellor and Prime Minister can succeed. 

The other significant obstacle in mega project delivery is the UK’s carbon budget, the legally binding five-year allowance. The challenge for the Government is how to create the carbon headroom in a new plan which will be available later this year.  

As well as talking about bats and newts, Rachel Reeves touched on the role of the strategic state in her speech yesterday. This encompasses everything from planning reform to AI and net zero – and in every case it is how far people are ready to yield for the greater national good. 

In lots of ways it is the very essence of the Chancellor’s push for growth and the trade-offs that in Labour’s view need to be balanced.