Transport

The government has committed itself to £30 billion of investment in the transport system but has also announced that capital spending by the Department of Transport is to be cut by 11 per cent.

Commuting employees, and employers whom want to encourage greener travel, will find that train fares are to rise by 3 per cent above the RPI rate of inflation for three years as from January 2012.

The government hopes that the additional funds can be used to ease the overcrowding on the railway system in many of the UK's larger cities.

Subsidies to bus operators are to be cut by 20 per cent, saving some £300 million by 2014/15.

However, £10 billion will be spent on the national and local road networks, while £14 billion will go to improving the national rail system over the same four-year period.

The Crossrail scheme is to go ahead in its entirety, and the East Coast mainline is also to be upgraded.