Think tank The Institute for Government (IfG) released its annual Whitehall Monitor report on Tuesday (22/01/2019) and it finds decreasing confidence in the delivery of major government projects, especially for infrastructure projects.

They claim the British exit from the European Union has captured the attention civil servants and politicians who are now responsible for delivering the Brexit project on top of the other projects. The highways and transportation sector is particularly affected as many major infrastructure projects sit within The Department for Transport (DfT) and are rail and road related

Of all government bodies DfT currently has the fifth most projects focused on dealing with the consequences of leaving the EU and the IfG report suggests these might be causing a significant distraction to the delivery of other projects.

This assessment is supported by the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) which assesses major projects on a red, amber and green scale. Since 2016 the percentage of infrastructure projects being deemed at risk has risen from 14 per cent to 40 per cent and all projects in the “red” category are military or infrastructure projects.

Rail is particularly affected with HS2, the biggest current project with an official budget of £56bn, Crossrail, the North of England Programme and the Modernisation of the Great Western Railway all being amber/red rated with some being further delayed since the assessment was made.