Still on the subject of Heidi Alexander’s speech to the Labour conference, it has been pointed out to me that she also made no reference to any of the major road schemes that the government is officially taking forward, such as the A66 scheme or the Lower Thames Crossing.
Has the government gone cold on road building?
Here are the transport secretary’s references to roads in a speech that had a lot to say about the railways:
Roads riddled with potholes
Record investment in roads maintenance, Conference. The first Road Safety Strategy in over a decade.
Our newest Minister, Justin Madders, who is gripping the problem of driving test wait times and overseeing our investment in roads.
Given that the first reference to investment in roads is specifically to maintenance, it might be reasonable to assume that the second one is also and that the absence of reference to road building suggests that ministers are less keen on it than they were.
This seems to have been the case with Heathrow expansion, as I noted yesterday.
On that subject, City AM reports that
…Alexander told the News Agents podcast that Heathrow’s expansion was a “very significant infrastructure project” that should be weighed up against the country’s climate obligations and its impact on locals.
The comments represent a striking departure from the full-throated support that the Keir Starmer government gave the runway, which former Chancellor Rachel Reeves singled out as a key pillar in her bid to boost economic growth.
Having said that, the Independent reports Treasury minister James Murray as giving the scheme full-throated support, in spite of Andy Burnham’s refusal to do so:
But I think we recognise that having that third runway is really important for jobs, it’s really important to get that investment into Heathrow and it’s actually really important for the whole country because that investment in making Heathrow stronger, making our country stronger, making sure that we boost trade and making sure we get more jobs right across the country is really important for our future.
Is there a row going on down near Slough?
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