UK industry chiefs have welcomed chancellor Alistair Darling's efforts to kick start the economy by bringing forward ￡3bn in infrastructure spending. But they warned that more had to be done to prevent shortages of bank finance undermining small contractors and scuppering private finance initiative deals. In what was considered to be the most important pre-Budget report for more than a decade, Darling pledged to invest ￡20bn in the UK economy. Measures annouced in late November included a cut in VAT to 15% for 13 months and moves to bring ￡3bn of key infrastructure projects forward from 2010/11. Of the ￡3bn, ￡2bn is earmarked for schools, hospitals and housing and ￡1bn for transport. In addition, contractors working on major infrastructure projects such as the M25 widening and London 2012 Olympics are being asked to accelerate programmes.
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