According to the financial times, the Boris Johnson administration has shelved its strategic plan to establish a “British Silicon Valley” around Oxford and Cambridge universities. Ministers no longer considered the project a priority, according to people familiar with the matter. Although the new railway line between Oxford and Cambridge is still under construction, plans for new high-speed trunk lines and 1 million new homes have been shelved.
The Oxford – Cig Shanghai Co.Ltd(603083) arc project, known as the “British Silicon Valley”, aims to connect the two universities with the manufacturing and logistics center of Milton Keynes city. Until last year, it has been a key priority of successive conservative governments. Michael Gove, the UK Secretary of state for housing and community affairs, has privately said that the project has been shelved, which has aroused the anger of local leaders and several major companies in the region.
Johnson was elected in 2019 with his “leveling” agenda and promised to focus on economic growth in London and beyond the southeast of the UK. After the conservative party lost the by election in the traditional stronghold in the northwest in 2021, Johnson gave up his plan to vigorously develop housing construction in the UK.
Three Whitehall insiders said that after Goff took office as Minister of housing and community affairs last September, a 40 person department responsible for implementing the Oxford – Cig Shanghai Co.Ltd(603083) arc in Whitehall was dissolved within weeks.
