Budget 2020: Chancellor will promise ‘record’ infrastructure spend

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The government will promise to raise infrastructure spending to its highest in decades in Wednesday’s Budget.

It will pledge to triple the average net investment made over the last 40 years into rail and road, affordable housing, broadband and research.

The Treasury told the BBC it would lead to the “highest levels [of investment] in real terms since 1955” over the course of the five-year Parliament.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will present the Budget less than a month into the job.

The BBC understands he will to promise a gross amount of over £600bn for capital spending - money put into projects like roads and rail - by the middle of 2025.

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BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said the decision marked a significant increase in the amount of spending on capital projects compared to the period since Margaret Thatcher came to power in 1979.

However, she said it was not yet clear if the government would stick to its own fiscal rules set out in its manifesto.

Mr Sunak is expected to say: “We have listened and will now deliver on our promise to level up the UK, ensuring everyone has the same chances and opportunities in life, wherever they live.

“By investing historic amounts in British innovation and world-class infrastructure, we will rebalance opportunities and lay the foundations for a decade of growth for everybody.”