Why Britain can’t build infrastructure

The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that the government will spend (read: borrow) £43 billion this year to keep the average household’s energy bill at £2,500. Without the Energy Price Guarantee, bills would have hit an eye-watering £4,279 in January. It is certainly true that the blame for this bleak state of affairs should fall squarely at the feet of Vladimir Putin. Yet, it is also true that our energy bills would be much more manageable if Britain had built the necessary energy infrastructure over the past decades. So why haven’t we?

First, some context. Since 2008, England and Wales have used a separate planning system for major infrastructure projects. Developers bypass local planning authorities and submit their applications directly to the government’s Planning Inspectorate, which then assesses whether or not the proposed project is in line with national policy. The Secretary of State responsible for energy, which is now Grant Shapps, then gives the final sign-off.