Boris Johnson’s grand infrastructure plan needs some small print

Grand infrastructure projects are all very well, but it is the small stuff that delivers the big returns, says Matthew Lynn.

Boris Johnson © Getty
Prepare for the sound of jackhammers © Getty
(Image credit: Boris Johnson © Getty)

It looks as if the JCBs will be out in force. Hi-vis jackets are going to be compulsory for every minister. And if you don’t like the sound of jackhammers you are going to be in for a rough time. Over the last week, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has started setting out his plans for rebooting the economy as it struggles to recover from the coronavirus. There were lots of big infrastructure projects. And some headline-grabbing industrial policies. But there was not a great deal in the way of small print.

Grands projets, as French presidents like to call them, are a Johnson speciality. As mayor of London, he was always trying to build something or other, and since taking office as PM he has been itching to start breaking ground. HS2 has been given the go-ahead, and a raft of new projects are planned, including new schools, hospitals and roads. His administration is increasingly taking its inspiration from the New Deal, and Johnson is already casting himself as the heir to Franklin D. Roosevelt.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.