Richard Burden
Main Page: Richard Burden (Labour - Birmingham, Northfield)Department Debates - View all Richard Burden's debates with the HM Treasury
National Infrastructure Plan
Richard Burden Excerpts(10 years, 11 months ago)
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Danny Alexander
My hon. Friend makes the case incredibly powerfully. We are investing in infrastructure up and down this country. We are delivering massive investment. He gave a list and I could give an even longer list from the north, the south, the midlands and across the whole of the United Kingdom. The Labour party has called for consensus on infrastructure. That consensus could best be achieved by Labour setting out its support for the best long-term plan for infrastructure this country has ever had.
Richard Burden (Birmingham, Northfield) (Lab)
If the Government’s record in delivering infrastructure projects is as the Chief Secretary claims, rather than as my hon. Friend the shadow Chief Secretary claims, why did the Financial Times this week quote John Cridland, director general of the CBI, accusing the Government of “talking the talk” rather than delivering on projects, and why did Richard Laudy, head of infrastructure at the construction law firm Pinsent Masons, echo the view of much of the industry when he said he expected more “smoke and mirrors” from the Government?
Danny Alexander
Some things are beyond the ken of most of us in this world and the editorial decisions of the Financial Times are one such matter. There has been a very strong welcome from industry for this plan and its previous iterations, including, as we have heard, from constituencies where projects are being taken forward. That is precisely because this Government are the first to have a long-term plan for infrastructure with a clear pipeline of projects that are being delivered up and down the country. The hon. Gentleman should welcome that.