Business, Forwarding, Freight News

Budget is all spin and noise says BIFA

[ March 11, 2020   //   Chris ]

BIFA director general Robert Keen said that the association’s members would be waiting to see whether all the borrowing and spending that has been outlined in the UK Budget on 11 March actually happens.

“Until it happens, it is all spin and noise,” he warned. “Whilst the investment in road transport infrastructure might make a difference to our members’ activities, we should not forget that back in November 2015, the then Government announced that funding would be provided for the largest road investment programme since the 1970s.
“I am not sure that the country’s network of A roads and motorways has become significantly less congested since that announcement.”
BIFA is also concerned about how the spending commitments outlined in today’s budget statement might be affected by a no-deal outcome and then end of this year in the negotiations between the EU and the UK.

Freight Transport Association head of UK policy, Christopher Snelling, commented: “We are thrilled to see the Chancellor has pledged to spend billions of pounds on upgrades across the UK. Businesses within the logistics sector rely on safe, effective and well-maintained road networks to keep goods moving across the UK, but the poor state of roads across the nation has compromised their ability to do so; the economic performance of the country has suffered as a result. Now, we are calling on government to press ahead urgently with its plans; the UK’s road and rail network has been subject to chronic underinvestment for many years and this programme is long overdue.”

Tags: BIFA