The UK has a large – and growing – infrastructure deficit. We can see the results all around us: pot-holed roads, tired and old-fashioned hospitals, and crumbling school buildings.
On top of this, infrastructure investment and project delivery will need to ramp up dramatically if the country is to meet its ambitions on net zero, economic growth and regional prosperity. But with significant pressures on the public purse, there is a clear need to leverage in private finance to help fund these projects.
Written by Matt Bevington, FGF Policy Associate and Practice Director at Global Counsel, Rebuilding the Nation 03 recommends the government introduce a new model of public-private partnership (PPP) – known as Infrastructure Investment Partnerships (IIPs) – to help meet the UK’s infrastructure ambitions and deliver wider community benefits at the same time.
Building on the success of models deployed by other social democrat governments around the globe, most notably Labour governments in Wales and the Australian state of Victoria, the report argues that the time is right to introduce a new, progressive form of PPP into the Westminster government’s policy toolkit.
This is the third report in FGF’s Rebuilding the Nation series. It follows two other reports, published last year, looking at progressive principles for effective investment and pension reform that delivers for savers and the economy.