Can the government value the proposed national infrastructure bank – given the last one did make a profit before its sell-off?
A new national infrastructure bank, you say, Mr Sunak, to help reach our carbon reduction targets? Didn’t we used to have one of those? Yes, here it is: the Green Investment Bank (GIB). It was sold to Macquarie of Australia for £1.6bn for 2017.
Still, at least GIB offered proof of concept. It wasn’t really a bank, more an investor in hard-to-finance green projects, which covered everything from windfarms to street lighting systems. It succeeded in attracting private capital in its wake and, crucially, made a profit. There was a £186m gain on disposal for the Treasury.
