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Hello, I'm Susan Hume and this is the Yesterday in Parliament podcast.

On Thursday, the 19th of June, the government unveiled its plans for avoiding the mistakes of the past

with a 725 billion-pound 10-year infrastructure strategy.

From the Romans to the Shakes of Dubai, building projects with a grand vision, need people

with a self-confidence to get the job done. In which case, if the UK needs an infrastructure

overhaul, Darren Jones could well be your man. I'm usually confident in my abilities,

Madam Deputy Speaker, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be secretary to the Treasury, had come to the Commons equipped with both his chutzpa and a statement outlining the government's 10-year infrastructure strategy.

He said the UK had a proud history of building what was needed,

from the railways to the 2012 Olympics.

But the reality is that we have now fallen behind many of our international competitors.

Too many investors now question our intentions and our capabilities. When we say we will build something,

they will often ask if we will and if we can. That is because for too long, the party opposite

cut capital investment. They promised major projects one minute and then abandoned them the next,

and they left the public estate to crumble for 14 long years.

So he talked about more certainty for investors, new oversight and money to maintain hospitals, schools and prisons. His conservative shadow, Richard Fuller, welcomed that,

but not the political attacks. The Tories, he argued, had had to deal with global economic

shocks such as COVID.

And on a personal note, Richard Fuller sounded a little bit sad.

He'd served on the cross-party business committee back when Darren Jones chaired it in the last parliament.

I, Ms. Madam Deputy Speaker, I miss the old, the chief secretary in his old guys as chairman of the business select

committee. Then there was less of the rhetoric, less of the partisanship. These big decisions

...