Jim Armitage: George Osborne has wasted an opportunity to fix our infrastructure

Another Budget, another pledge to boost infrastructure investment.

The few hundreds of millions the Chancellor set aside today may make for a quick headline but it’s barely a grain of sand in the desert-like lack of investment in roads, rail, schools and public housing over the past 40 years.

Rather than continuing to drive through his cuts agenda today, the Chancellor could have taken advantage of near-zero interest rates to get more much-needed projects off the ground.

Delivering projects to make the country more efficient for decades to come is the right way to “put the next generation first” and reverse our dismal record on productivity, not deeper austerity.

Private sector investors say they want to get involved in building roads, rail, schools and hospitals, but they need the Government to put more cash in as well to make them less risky.

It’s not just cash, though, they need more transparency around these contracts, plus assurances the rules won’t change mid-term as they did with Railtrack. Full disclosure would attract more investors and get projects the kind of A or BBB credit ratings pension and insurance funds need.

More cash and more brains: that’s what we need to turn our productivity failings around.