Darnell's Story

Meet Darnell, 29, from Halifax in Yorkshire and The Humber, who wanted to train as a construction worker but found himself caught in a deliberate trap. Training providers across the region had unfilled places while local housing targets went unmet. The Construction Industry Training Board had capacity, workers were available, and homes with planning permission needed building. But HM Treasury refused to direct CITB levy funding toward areas with the greatest housing need, treating infrastructure spending as a deficit risk rather than the mechanism that puts skilled tradespeople to work. Darnell's story exposes how central government creates artificial scarcity in one of Britain's most essential sectors. Disclosure: This episode critiques government fiscal policy from a post-Keynesian economic perspective that challenges conventional deficit narratives.