HMT is always “malleable to ministerial direction”, otherwise Lawson, Brown and Osborne wouldn’t have been the activist Chancellors that they were. Osborne, for example, had no problem in approving infrastructure investment in the NW like the M6 Heysham Link, the Manchester Airport Relief Road or the Mersey Gateway (one of the biggest infrastructure projects in Europe).
HMT is always “malleable to ministerial direction”, otherwise Lawson, Brown and Osborne wouldn’t have been the activist Chancellors that they were. Osborne, for example, had no problem in approving infrastructure investment in the NW like the M6 Heysham Link, the Manchester Airport Relief Road or the Mersey Gateway (one of the biggest infrastructure projects in Europe).
A fresh take on the budget.. what a relief after a week of wall to wall NI focus! This article is both incisive and balanced.