Local authority pension funds are to be combined into six new British Wealth Funds to help increase investment in major infrastructure projects.
Chancellor George Osborne will announce plans to pool the assets of 89 pension funds in England and Wales into new funds worth more than £25bn at today’s Conservative conference.
He is expected to say that only 0.5% of assets are currently invested in infrastructure, while countries with pooled public pension funds invest up to 8% in such projects.
He will also use the conference to officially launch the new National Infrastructure Commission, headed up by former cabinet minister Lord Adonis. The commission will advise the Government on where and when major projects such as rail links and airports should be built.
Mr Osborne is expected to say: ‘Where would Britain be if we had never built railways or runways, power stations or new homes? Where will we be in the future if we stop building them now?
‘I am not prepared to turn around to my children – or indeed anyone else’s child and say I’m sorry we didn’t build for you.’
