UK budget: infrastructure spending given priority

London

UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced accelerated infrastructure spending to lift a slack UK economy.

To counter a forecast decline in growth from 2.2 per cent in 2015 to 2 per cent in 2016, Mr Osborne promised higher spending on better transport and Internet connections between northern, eastern, western and southern cities. Infrastructure improvements include wide highways and the longest road tunnel in Europe. There will also be high-speed trains between northern cities of Manchester and Leeds.