Yesterday's Comprehensive Spending Review deserves a thorough analysis in its own right and I certainly think that overall George Osborne did a good job with the dire hand which Gordon Brown's spendthrift government bequeathed him.
But the big disappointment for Cambridge is the absence of the A14 in the list of infrastructure projects to go ahead.
I blame four people: Cambridge's MP Julian Huppert, former MP David Howarth, city council leader Cllr Sian Reid and former city council leader Cllr Ian Nimmo-Smith. All four campaigned vigorously against the vital proposed enhancement to the A14 and they can now toast their success in holding back local, regional and national economic development.
Their opposition to the scheme was ideological and slightly batty (apparently the new 'superhighway' would have engulfed Cambridge with new visitors).
All the surrounding Conservative MPs supported the plan. If we had presented a united front perhaps we would have got the upgrade, but divided it was obviously a prime candidate to be dropped when there were other schemes with better support.
I hope that the scheme can be considered again in the future.
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