Our analysis on the latest National Infrastructure Commission assessment

The CBI has welcomed the timely assessment from the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) on the delivery of critical national infrastructure. The report acknowledges the strides we have made in the last five years since the first assessment, notably the creation of the UK Infrastructure Bank, the increase in electricity generated by renewables and the devolution of transport funding to city regions.

But coming just a short time after the announcement of the scrapping of HS2 north of Birmingham, the report talks to the need for policy certainty which in turn provides the confidence needed by the private sector to invest – echoing a core message across all of the CBI’s work.

It rightly acknowledges the challenges facing the UK economy following the pandemic, war in Ukraine and spiralling inflationary pressures on business, households, and government, but reinforces the need for long-term planning.

The NIC has identified three cross-cutting strategic opportunities th