London: Philip Hammond will set out Wednesday an investment plan to boost productivity, including a £1.3 billion (Dh5.8 billion, $1.6 billion) programme to improve British roads, in his first budget statement as UK chancellor of the exchequer.
As the government prepares to publish its industrial strategy in coming weeks, the chancellor will announce in his first Autumn Statement planned spending for infrastructure and innovation, as well as measures to help working families struggling to make ends meet, the Treasury said in an emailed statement.
Hammond also will unveil a new fiscal framework that will let the government respond to potential economic shocks as Britain negotiates its exit from the European Union. He has stressed that unlike his predecessor, George Osborne, the statement to Parliament will set a narrower goal, focused on economic policy. Wednesday’s statement, for instance, will announce top level spending decisions rather than give full details of individual projects.
Road congestion
The investment in Britain’s road network is part of a plan to prioritise projects that will have an immediate impact and can be built quickly, the Treasury said. Road congestion is estimated to cost households more than £13 billion a year.
His proposals will include £1.1 billion to cut congestion and upgrade local roads and public transport networks, and 220 million pounds to unsnarl bottlenecks on motorways and major arteries. The Treasury will also back the National Infrastructure Commission’s recommendation to support an expressway connecting Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge with £27 million of funding.
