The UK needs to build, fix, and upgrade the transport, water, and energy infrastructure the public relies on. This requires cash—more than the country is currently spending.
The new UK Labour government is conducting a multi-year spending review which will set out how much they have to spend on major capital projects in the coming years. The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced in July that the UK was facing a financial ‘black hole’ in its spending plans. Already we’ve seen the scrapping of several road and rail projects alongside the launch of a rapid review of the transport investment pipeline. At the same time, the new government has indicated that they are interested in proposals that leverage private finance and reduce spending on the government’s balance sheet.
This panel debate, coming just a couple of weeks after the government’s first budget, will explore the UK's options, drawing on international examples, for appraising, funding and financing infrastructure and the public's appetite for them. Speakers will delve into the following questions:
- What's the current plan to pay for the infrastructure the UK needs?
- What are the alternative options available that would minimise the requirement for public sector investment? And how best should private finance be engaged? What lessons can the UK learn from other countries?
- Should the UK continue its current approach to delivering complex infrastructure, which primarily depends on successive design and build (D&B) procurements? What benefits could private capital bring in terms of the delivery of infrastructure?
The panel debate forms part of a wider ICE Next Steps Programme, designed to identify, test with the public and socialise new options for funding and financing infrastructure in the UK. It draws on global lessons and gives differing voices and opinions the space to be heard.
This event will take place after the publication of the ICE's initial research on this topic and will contribute to the final briefing paper, which will be launched in early 2025 so that the recommendations can support the ICE’s work and feed into the spending review.