Britain’s government has only half a plan to improve infrastructure
It is taking on NIMBYs, but has not focused on projects that will boost the economy
IMAGINE THAT you need to drive from London to Edinburgh. After taking a motorway to Leeds and a dual carriageway as far as Morpeth, you will spend 30 miles (48km) trundling along a two-lane country road, possibly stuck behind a tractor. In opposition, Sir Keir Starmer mocked the Tories for having pledged to widen this “absolutely critical” stretch of the A1 into a highway five times since 2010. Such broken promises, he told local bigwigs, were a “metaphor for how our country’s been run”. Alas, in Labour’s first budget in October the ill-fated scheme was axed once again.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Only half a plan”
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