Last month’s construction industry figures add to the welter of evidence showing that boom-boom Britain is no more.
Building firms, according to the Markit/CIPS survey, are expanding output at the slowest rate for almost two years.
Commercial activity, which includes properties such as shops, factories, offices and industrial units, was down to the weakest since August 2013. Analysts need to go back to June 2013 for such a weak housebuilding figure.
The official figures are even worse. As IHS Global Insight analyst Howard Archer points out, the Office for National Statistics has estimated that construction output contracted in the first quarter of 2015 by an unexpectedly steep 1.6%. This startling drop came after an even larger fall of 2.2% in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Coupled with the downbeat Markit survey of manufacturers for April, it is hard to escape the conclusion that the bedrock of British commercial life is lacking the verve and energy seen in 2013 and the first half of 2014.
Some economists have blamed the slowdown on the election. Markit’s chief economist Chris Williamson said as much when he warned: “Clearly the election outcome will be a major factor in determining growth and confidence in coming months.”
He may be right. Building firms are notoriously sensitive to winds of change. Far from being the bold capitalists they appear, builders will mothball projects with little notice if the sums for the coming month fail to add up.
But why would builders fear an election when every major party has pledged to construct more homes?
If it is the Labour party that developers fear, this would seem equally nonsensical. Yes, the major developers are massive Tory donors and have packed David Cameron’s dinner table in No10 since 2010. But Labour is responsible for the regeneration of the northern cities, with much of the money spent on sprucing up and rebuilding city centres.
Britain was transformed into a first rank nation from 1997, largely by a construction industry that in turn profited immensely from its efforts.
.jpg?w=600)
