PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE SPENDING AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

That this House notes the research published today by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) that shows how investing £30 billion in infrastructure could boost economic growth and reduce long-term debt levels; further notes how public investment in infrastructure has the largest long-run positive impact; further notes that the Government's infrastructure plan has identified £310 billion worth of infrastructure projects across the UK; further notes that very few of the projects identified in the plan have started and that the Government's capital spending budget is actually 42 per cent down from when it came to office; acknowledges that any public investment will increase the deficit in the short term, just as self-defeating austerity is causing the Chancellor to borrow hundreds of billions more than projected as a result of increasing liabilities and reduce revenues; further notes that investing in infrastructure pays for itself in the long run by stimulating jobs and growth and giving the private sector the confidence to invest; calls on the Government to take advantage of historic lows in interest rates; and further calls on the Government to reject another round of overt austerity in the forthcoming Comprehensive Spending Review and to embrace a change of approach as advocated by the TUC and NIESR research.