George Osborne is the man who wants to build and plan. On the Today programme, the Chancellor explained he was creating a National Infrastructure Commission, headed up by former Labour peer Andrew Adonis, because ‘Britain is pretty rubbish at making big decision on infrastructure’:
‘I’m trying to shake the inertia of this country and say we have got to plan and build for the future and I think the best way to do that is to have an independent body outside the party political fight, trying to build a national consensus, telling us in a calm and expert way what the country needs for its future and then I want to go ahead and building it and make sure we’re providing the jobs and security for working people not just in this generation but the next.’
https://soundcloud.com/spectator1828/george-osborne-on-andrew-adonis-tax-credits-and-heathrow
The Chancellor cited the Howard Davies’ commission on airport expansion as an example of Britain’s inability to build things, pointing out that the decision has been mulled around for 40+ years.
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