Eurostar stake for sale as part of £20bn privatisation plan
Twenty billion pounds worth of the UK’s assets are to be privatised by 2020, the government announces, starting with the sale of its 40 per cent stake in Eurostar.
In a new national infrastructure plan, setting out over £375bn of planned public and private investments to 2030 and beyond, the government has doubled its target for selling off financial assets from £10bn.
Underground, overground, onshore, offshore, wired or wireless, tarmac or train track. You name it, we’re building it right now. Danny Alexander
The high-speed rail line connecting London and Paris is 40 per cent owned by the UK government, 55 per cent by the French government, and 5 per cent by the Belgian government.
It has recently revealed an increase in revenues and passenger numbers, with sales revenue for this summer 10 per cent higher than the same period in 2012.
Other measures announced in the government’s plan include:
- The scrapping of plans to create the UK’s first toll road for a decade. Motorists will not be charged to use the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon once the improvement scheme, due to start in 2016, is completed.
- A further £50m for the redevelopment of the railway station at Gatwick Airport.
- A government guarantee aimed at supporting finance for the development of a new nuclear power station at Wylfa on Anglesey.
- The £1bn Northern Line extension to Battersea in south west London will also be guaranteed by the government.
- Funding for improvements to the A50 around Uttoxeter in Staffordshire to start no later than 2015/16.
- A £10 million competitive fund to open in early 2014 to test ways to deliver superfast broadband to remote areas of the UK.
In total, planned infrastructure investment has increased from £309bn to £375bn. This has been helped by a decision from UK insurers to invest £25bn in UK infrastructure projects over the next five years.
Insurers Legal and General, Prudential, Aviva, Standard Life, Friends Life and Scottish Widows have said they will invest in infrastructure, following changes in European rules which incentivise investment in a wider range of assets.
‘Economic boost’
Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander will unveil the plan on Wednesday.
Yet another announcement from ministers about possible future investment will do little to reassure business that warm words will finally translate into diggers in the ground. Chris Leslie
He is expected to say: “Underground, overground, onshore, offshore, wired or wireless, tarmac or train track. You name it, we’re building it right now.
“This is great news for the people of the UK because after years of neglect, the UK’s energy, road, rail, flood defence, communications and water infrastructure needs renewal.
“It will boost the UK economy, creating jobs and making it easier to do business. It will also make the UK a better place to live for everyone who calls it their home.”
Of the 646 projects in the infrastructure plan, 291 are already under construction.
‘Complete failure’
However, Labour accused the government of a “complete failure” over infrastructure since the coalition came to power in 2010.
Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie said: “With the country facing a cost-of-living crisis we need to invest in infrastructure to create jobs, boost living standards and strengthen our economy for the long term.
“But for the last three-and-a-half years the government’s record on infrastructure has been one of complete failure.
“The ONS says that infrastructure work is down 3.7 per cent in the last year and fell by 10 per cent in 2012. And in the spending review the government set out plans to cut capital investment even further in real terms in 2015/16.
“Scheme after scheme has been announced to great fanfare but then little actually delivered. Yet another announcement from ministers about possible future investment will do little to reassure business that warm words will finally translate into diggers in the ground.”