Hammond to Boost U.K. Infrastructure With Plan to Unsnarl Roads
- Government to back $1.6 billion program to improve highways
- Budget statement on Wednesday to focus on economic policy
Traffic travels along the M25 motorway in this aerial photograph taken near Upminster, U.K., on Wednesday, July 22, 2015. Passenger journeys on the U.K. rail network rose more than 4 percent to a record 1.65 billion in the fiscal year through March as the country's crowded roads encouraged people to continue an exodus from cars to trains.
Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/BloombergPhilip Hammond will set out Wednesday an investment plan to boost productivity, including a 1.3 billion-pound ($1.6 billion) program to improve British roads, in his first budget statement as U.K. chancellor of the exchequer.
As the government prepares to publish its industrial strategy in coming weeks, the chancellor will announce in his first Autumn Statement planned spending for infrastructure and innovation, as well as measures to help working families struggling to make ends meet, the Treasury said in an e-mailed statement.