Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to announce a £725 billion infrastructure plan spanning the next decade, beginning with urgent repairs to the UK’s ageing transport network. The programme includes a new £1bn “structures fund” to strengthen bridges, flyovers and tunnels – enabling them to handle heavier freight and agricultural traffic.
The Chancellor aims to accelerate projects that offer visible short-term results, helping to generate political momentum ahead of the next general election, due by summer 2029. Allies say she will pre-commit part of the capital budget now rather than wait for the 2027 spending review.
A major element of the plan is a £590 million funding boost for the Lower Thames Crossing, a 14-mile road and tunnel to ease congestion on the Dartford stretch of the M25 and improve links from the Midlands and North to Channel ports. The Treasury describes it as the “most significant road-building project in a generation.” It is expected to be delivered through a private finance model, part-funded by tolls. While £1.8bn is needed to kick-start the scheme, officials expect further public funding to follow in stages.
Over £1.2bn has already been spent on preparatory work, despite the construction not yet beginning.
The plan, to attract pension funds and other investors, follows Reeves’ more exhaustive capital spending review last week. She committed an additional £113bn in borrowing for long-term investment, offset by cuts to departmental day-to-day spending. Many of the projects announced are aimed at the heartlands of labour in the North, the Midlands, and Wales.
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