roads; transport

The World Economic Forum’s ‘Global Competitiveness Report’ gives each country a score based on a number of indicators, including quality of road infrastructure. The report reveals how the UK only just makes the top 30 countries surveyed by the Forum, and is ranked in the upper reaches of the world’s developing countries. Last year the Government announced a £15bn to upgrade roads and triple the level of spending on the infrastructure by 2020. Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said at the project’s launch that the UK’s roads system had suffered from underinvestment  and that the upgrade would be the “biggest, boldest, and most far-reaching roads programme for decades”. Spending on all types of infrastructure in general has fallen by at least £15bn from its peak following sharp cuts in the early years of the Coalition government, however – according to a report in March from the National Audit Office.