The Government has been urged by a Yorkshire business specialist to borrow more to invest in key infrastructure projects and to bring forward the timetable for a high-speed rail connection between the region and London.

Ian Beaumont, head of accountants BDO in Yorkshire, also wants to see measures to encourage more private infrastructure investment, to encourage more bank lending to Yorkshire firms and another round of quantitative easing by the Bank of England.

He said: “We remain of the view that the Government’s attempts to rein in current spending have given it the credibility to be bolder in borrowing more to finance infrastructure spending. To arrest the forecasted slump, we urge the Bank of England to re-consider a further round of quantitative easing following and we encourage the banks to continue to step up their lending to our region’s businesses."

See Thursday's T&A business pages for the full story