Nine out of ten business leaders questioned in the CBI/URS Infrastructure Survey believe an infrastructure commission should be established to remove the short termism of modern politics, from the investment requirements of the country.



Noticeably, even though the UK’s infrastructure is seen to be lagging behind most of the world’s developed economies, the majority of those surveyed expected energy and transport infrastructure to get worse in the next five years, despite over two-thirds of the respondents seeing the governments UK Guarantee Scheme and planning for growing as positive move to develop the UK’s infrastructure.



With 96% of the companies questioned believing short-termism in the UK political system was part of the problem causing political uncertainty and discouraging investment by damaging the market confidence.



Sir John Armitt recommended creating an independent infrastructure commission and many of those surveyed (as many as one in ten) indicated they’d be in support of the establishment of such a body.

Katja Hall, CBI Deputy-Director-General, said: “Progress on infrastructure has been a case of two steps forward and three steps back for far too long.



“While the policy environment has improved, businesses still don’t see upgrades to mission-critical parts of our infrastructure on the ground in practice – and don’t expect to anytime soon.



“Politicians are too often seen as ducking the big, politically difficult questions looming large on businesses’ risk register, like runway capacity and long-term road funding, rather than grasping the nettle,” explained Hall.



“Where hard decisions have been taken on issues like energy, populist political rhetoric threatens to send us backwards.”



She added: “Just recently National Grid warned that spare capacity margins are at the lowest level in seven years, so building up investor confidence couldn't be more important.



“We’re at a crossroads. The next government must build on the successful policies of this Parliament, but we also need to see bold thinking and a renewal of the politics of infrastructure.”