On the 2016 Budget put forward by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, Dr Nelson Ogunshakin chief executive of Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) made the following immediate statement:

"Concerns around global economic conditions meant that when the Chancellor stood up to deliver his eighth Budget today, his freedom of movement would be restricted, and that is what we saw today. Infrastructure still did well, with announcements bringing forward road and rail projects that will facilitate the Northern Powerhouse, and the adoption of ACE recommendations on zonal housing development, as well as the devolution of business rates to London by 2017.

"There were also announcements about Crossrail 2 and High Speed 3, however the exact detail on what government commitments would be were not in the speech and we will be looking carefully at the details to see what this support entails. These important projects must receive support if they are to go ahead and equip the UK to face the challenges of the 21st century.

"Finally, it is also important that we do not lose sight of existing projects going through, yet to be delivered. The HS2 Bill has still to go through its third reading and much of the agenda mentioned above is dependent on this. We would urge the government to ensure its focus is not deflected at this crucial time, otherwise all plans for delivering new world class infrastructure networks may lie in tatters."

ENDS