Chancellor visits York to announce £100bn investment in roads, rail and flood defences

George Osborne will launch the National Infrastructure Commission in the north today Credit: Nick Ansell/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Chancellor George Osborne will visit York today to announce a £100 billion investment in British roads, rail, flood defences and other projects. He will insist that a better infrastructure is vital to improve the lives of British people.

Launching the new National Infrastructure Commission, which will be led by former Cabinet minister Lord Adonis, the Chancellor will outline plans to 'get Britain building', putting infrastructure at the centre of the November Spending Review.

The Chancellor is expected to pledge £100 billion in infrastructure spending by 2020, including full funding for the £15 billion Roads Investment Strategy.

Northern transport links and connectivity between cities will be at the forefront of the National Infrastructure Commission's initial plans which will particularly focus on transport links across the Pennines.

The body will also prioritise projects which focus on London's transport system and how the UK can better balance supply and demand in the energy market.

The National Infrastructure Commission will be an independent body working to determine Britain's infrastructure priorities and hold governments to account.

The body will be made up of:

  • Lord Heseltine - former deputy prime minister

  • Sir John Armitt - former chair of the Olympic Delivery Authority

  • Professor Tim Besley - former member of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee and the LSE's Growth Commission

  • Demis Hassabis -artificial intelligence researcher, neuroscientist and head of DeepMind Technologies

  • Sadie Morgan - founding director of dRMM Architects and Design Panel Chair of HS2

  • Bridget Rosewell 0 senior adviser at Volterra and former Chief Economist and Chief Economic Adviser to the Greater London Authority

  • Sir Paul Ruddock - chairman of the Victoria & Albert Museum and the University of Oxford Endowment

The NIC will produce a report at the start of each Parliament, every five years, to recommend priority infrastructure projects.