| It's fairly clear that next week's budget will unveil a substantial shift in how the UK counts investment. All the noises are that Rachel Reeves will announce new rules on borrowing to fund it, and Labour has already set about reassuring bond markets that this money will be used sensibly. Many think it is a time whose idea has come. Britain is a low investment country, typically spending less than its peers as a proportion of the economy. In the EU, public sector debt is excluded from the government's books if it's been raised in private markets and repaid from revenue generated by the investments. In the UK, on the other hand, it goes on the government's books. Writing about this last month, Philip Aldrick featured analysis that showed European equivalents to the UK's infrastructure banks (like the British Business Bank and the UK Investment Bank among others) are able to invest several times that of the UKIB or BBB because they are not hamstrung by accounting rules. As Bloomberg Opinion's expert on infrastructure investment Matthew Brooker wrote in July after the chancellor canned a number of infrastructure projects (before what appears to be a rethink): "A distinction should be drawn between current spending and investment in capital assets — such as roads, railways, hospitals and other essential infrastructure — that add to the productive capacity of the economy."  Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves last week Photographer: JONATHAN BRADY/AFP It looks like Reeves has listened to him, and others — the new rules are expected to allow greater capital investment, although we're not yet sure how she'll do it. But while it will have pleased many, developments elsewhere today suggest caution is still needed when our government attempts to build See-It-From-Space infrastructure. Yesterday Bloomberg reported on an independent review of HS2 this government has just announced – essentially how to keep the costs from growing even further. They are also asking HS2's incoming Chief Executive Mark Wild to provide an action plan that will ensure the rest of it done as "cost effectively as possible." Wild should be known to us all as the man who led the project to build the Elizabeth Line – a Tube line now known affectionately as the Lizzie Line which is so slick and easy it's mad to use a taxi to cross town. The government is at pains to say it is not, despite rumors, resurrecting aspects of HS2 ditched by the previous government, but wants to grip what's left. Their pick of Wild is a smart idea. It will be interesting to see what the Chancellor announces as the small print to ensure that the next generation of British infrastructure is much better done. Will she announce rules to stop general spend being renamed investment spend, in a bid to engender market confidence? It is likely that, in order to get the authorities to agree to new institutions going off the government's books, they will have to commit to its purpose not being political — which could be a difficult thing to define. Writing earlier this year, Brooker said HS2 "may be taught in business schools one day as a case study in how governments should not approach large infrastructure developments." As we contemplate the possible announcement next week of a new era of government investment, we have to hope these lessons have been learned. Want this in your inbox each weekday? You can sign up here. | 
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