Major companies to chair infrastructure review, Labour reveals

The aim will be to look at how infrastructure can be better delivered and managed to boost growth and will report by the spring.

Launching the review today at the Advanced Advanced Manufacturing and Research Centre in South Yorkshire, Mr Jones will say “We need to get Britain building again so we can get Britain growing again.

“That means quicker and cheaper delivery of major projects and infrastructure, and it means unlocking the private sector investment our country needs.”

It comes after Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, announced the British Infrastructure Council, designed to unlock investment if Labour wins the next election, in addition to the transport review chaired by Juergen Maier, the former Chief Executive of Siemens UK.

Katy Dowding, CEO Skanska UK “It’s vital that the infrastructure sector has long-term stability to spur investment, encourage confidence and improve productivity.

“The UK has the skills, the innovative capacity and the know how to get projects delivered but we must unblock the barriers that impede efficient delivery today."

In December the Government launched its own review into speeding up infrastructure, headed up by Sam Richards the head of Britain Remade, who has been critical of the slow pace of current regulations.

In an interview with The Yorkshire Post ahead of his visit to South Yorkshire, Mr Jones said that there were fundamental issues in the infrastructure system of the UK that need addressing before it can fully ramp up its spending to its £28bn-a-year ambition.

“We’ve pledged to get Britain building again so that means we’re going to do whatever we can to get back to a position where the UK is able to deliver infrastructure,” he said.

This will include the re-writing of the country’s National Policy Statements to, for example, allow for onshore wind to be built in England.

However, this, combined with other planning reforms, will mean that there will be a delay in ramping up to the £28 billion spending commitment made by the party.

For National Policy Statements, this will take about six months, due to the need to go through parliament and select committees, Mr Jones confirmed.

“We’re not going to be able to just throw money at things from day 1,” he said, adding: “Partly because the economy is in such a bad state, but also because all of our policies are subject to our fiscal rules.”

“I also have to remind people that public subsidies are only relevant in certain circumstances.

“Those are generally ones where a sector is ‘pre-commercial’ such as carbon capture and storage or some kinds of hydrogen facilities, where private sector businesses are not yet able to fully fund it because we’re behind the curve.

“But the vast majority of work that we need to get done, I am expecting, will be paid for by private sector money, not public sector money.”