With a lot of investment required for UK infrastructure – in water, in broadband/fibre, in the wind farms, the electricity grid, in heating conversions, and in electric transport - a massive amount of money is needed, but where is it going to come from? Savings are necessary to pay for the investment, but we are no longer a nation of savers, and we therefore have to rely on the savings of foreigners. Foreign savings finance our UK investment programmes, assuming that the next generation will pay the interest, provide the profits and pay back the debt.

We import 8% of GDP more than we export. Foreigners lend us the money to cover this excess consumption, balancing our balance of payments. In exchange we sell them the family silver. That’s why so much of UK infrastructure and utilities have overseas owners. This all runs counter to the desire of the current government to shed the UK of its dependence on non-domestic investors. It is foreign investors or no investment, as long as we refuse to save and choose to live beyond our means. This situation is not sustainable.