Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Statement has given the green light to a number of major infrastructure projects, including the construction of a new rail link between Oxford, Bedford and Milton Keynes which he says will create 12,000 new jobs.

Amongst the 500 public works programmes identified by the government that it wishes to build within the next year are improvement to the A14, an extension to London Underground’s Northern Line and earlier-than-expected investment on the Tyne & Wear Metro.

Osborne calls this “a huge commitment to overhauling the physical transport infrastructure of our nation. We will match it by overhauling the digital infrastructure too. The government is funding plans to bring superfast broadband to 90% of homes and businesses across the country, and extend mobile phone coverage to 99% of families.”

Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union (RMT) had earlier said “what Britain needs today is real investment for growth”.

Crow said: “RMT wants protection of the jobs of those in work and a guaranteed future for the millions who would immediately benefit from a programme of public works not seen since the Second World War.

“That’s how you build your way out of a double-dip recession – not by slinging more money at the banks that created this crisis.”