Labour’s plans would bring above-average investment but could still mean a “squeeze” on budgets for repairing schools and hospitals, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has said.
The IFS estimated this would mean, by the end of the next parliament, an extra £20 billion being spent per year on top of the £8 billion the Conservatives have already planned, increasing public sector investment to 2.6% of GDP compared to an average of 1.6% since the late 1970s. He said: “Current policy is for overall capital spending to be held more or less flat in cash terms after 2023–24.
He added: “It is clear that the specifics of things such as how Labour would redesign the Contracts for Difference scheme, or how its £2 billion Battery Power Fund would work, or how the new publicly owned energy company functions, will determine whether or not these are billions well spent.”