Who paid for that?

One of the things that even its critics, such as myself, have to concede that the European Union has been good at is making clear what it has funded. By contrast, in this country there’s little to tell you that the taxpayer has paid for something.

But this is changing. The government will tomorrow, as I mention in the Mail on Sunday, announce that all publicly funded infrastructure projects will now be branded with a Union flag logo and the message ‘Funded by the UK Government.’

This will apply right across the UK and should provide some clarity as to who is paying for what; using this branding will be a condition of winning government contracts. It will also make clear that work undertaken by quangos such as the environment agency is, actually, funded by the government.

This scheme has been pushed by Danny Alexander, the chief secretary to the Treasury who is in charge of the government’s infrastructure plan, and Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office Minister.