Kenny's Story

Kenny, 34, from Newcastle upon Tyne East and Wallsend, had his construction career blocked when training providers in the North East sat with unfilled places while local housing targets remained unmet. Despite having workers available and training capacity ready, HM Treasury and CITB failed to direct levy funding to areas with the greatest housing need. Central government treats infrastructure spending as a deficit risk rather than recognizing it as the mechanism that puts bricklayers, electricians, and plumbers to work building homes that already have planning permission. Kenny's story reveals how political choices in Westminster create artificial scarcity in one of Britain's most deprived constituencies. Disclosure: this programme challenges conventional economic thinking about government spending.