Lawmaker flags P180-B pork in 2027 budget
By Saghir Hussain ·
When a Philippine lawmaker waved a red flag over P180‑billion of dubious infrastructure in next year’s budget, it reminded me of the way we’re shovelling money into automation projects here in the UK while the people who actually do the work are left scrambling for new skills.
The pork barrel and the productivity gap
The Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that the House of Representatives slipped 6,212 new infrastructure projects worth about P180 billion into its version of the 2027 national budget – a classic case of “pork” that looks impressive on paper but often fails to deliver real‑world benefits. A separate Inquirer piece noted a genuine P180‑million underdrainage scheme for Baguio City aimed at tackling recurrent flooding, showing that not all spending is waste; the problem is sorting the useful from the window‑dressing.
Over here, we see a similar pattern. Government announcements tout fresh funding for AI‑driven manufacturing, robotics in warehouses and automated customer‑service platforms. Yet, on the ground, many small firms in the Midlands and the North tell me they can’t afford the upfront cost of these systems, and their staff lack the time or access to retraining programmes that would let them work alongside the new tech. The result? A productivity gap that widens while the headline numbers look rosy.
Automation’s speed vs retraining’s lag
Automation isn’t waiting for us to catch up. A BBC Business story highlighted growing bipartisan criticism in the United States over a deal to import diesel from Russia – a reminder that global supply chains are shifting fast, and countries that fail to adapt feel the pinch at the pump. In the UK, we’re feeling that pinch in higher transport costs, which hit small‑business owners hardest when they rely on vans and lorries to move goods.
Meanwhile, The Sun offered a light‑hearted take on spotting liars – eight tips ranging from watching for eye‑contact shifts to noticing arm‑folding. Detecting pork in a budget needs a similar keen eye: look for projects that lack clear outcomes, that duplicate existing work, or that appear only in the final stages of a bill. The same scrutiny should apply to automation spending. Are we investing in kits that truly upskill workers, or are we buying shiny robots that sit idle because the workforce can’t operate them?
What this means for UK towns and small businesses
Take a town like Stoke‑on‑Trent, where manufacturing has long been the backbone. If a local factory installs a robotic arm without a concurrent programme to teach machine‑maintenance or data‑analysis, the workers who once kept the line running may find themselves redundant, while the firm struggles to justify the capital outlay. The same dynamic plays out in retail corridors from Belfast to Brighton, where self‑checkout kiosks replace cashiers but leave staff with fewer hours and limited pathways to higher‑pay roles.
The Hill noted a bipartisan group of US senators pushing back on President Trump’s Russian‑oil deal, underscoring that even amid geopolitical turbulence, lawmakers can unite