Hiding to nothing

Who’d be in Government? Certainly the past few months have been the hardest for politicians to navigate the country through and it is unlikely that MPs from any colour of the political spectrum ever thought they’d have to deal with such seismic times. Add to that the curious societal expectation that our legislators always achieve professional perfection and it’s easy to see why being in Government is a hiding to nothing.

For every positive development, for example paying the wages of employees and self-employed, there are at least two negatives – a slow testing regime and lack of PPE. One step up and two steps back, it seems.

But dealing with a global situation unprecedented in human experience (or at least modern experience) was always going to be subject to make-it-up-as-you-go-along policy, albeit with the hope that lessons are learned for the future.

Coping with the aftermath, putting the economy and life in general back together again after major disruption – well, humankind has long experience and one would hope that it is surer ground for our politicians.

So, it will be interesting to watch developments over the coming weeks and months to see the policy decisions made to restore health – both personal and economic

– to the country.

As with the previous recession, the Tory administration has already made moves for the country to build its way out of trouble and the fact that construction was the first industry encouraged back to work during lockdown is surely a sign that its importance is recognised.

Although it may seem an age ago, the Budget in March made a pledge of gargantuan investment in infrastructure, with around ￡640 billion for roads, railways, communications, schools, hospitals and power networks across the UK by 2024–25. Added to that were further billions for housing and flood protection.

A further sign of ‘normal’ life returning is industry bodies queuing up with demands for more money, reform and tax relief.

Supply chain delays, labour shortages and cashflow with dwindling reserves are likely to be the biggest barriers to construction progress in the months ahead. This is why the Government has faced calls for: a reduction in VAT on repair and maintenance work; a national retrofit strategy (from the Federation of Master Builders); major reforms to the CITB in order to support sector skills (by the National Federation of Builders); and reform of the mineral planning system (by the Mineral Products Association).

And that’s all before individual organisation’s demands for stamp duty cuts, safer sites to include more biometrics and longer site hours during the summer. That’s quite the shopping list.

There’s every reason to hope and believe that many of these calls will be listened to sympathetically. After all, the speed at which the industry recovers will depend much on Government stimulus packages, as well as sector confidence.

But in juggling all this and similar calls from other industries (and at some point, the country has to pay for it all too), being in Government is a hiding to nothing indeed.

Taken from Concrete July 2020. Visit: www.concrete.org.uk/concrete-free.asp