The Government has announced a strategy to tackle congestion caused by motorway closures and drive down the £1bn annual cost to the economy. This included the launch of a £3m fund for police forces to purchase laser scanning technology to speed up of the investigation process and incident clear up times.

The CBI has called on the Government to protect economic growth in its forthcoming Spending Review. As it limits spending, it should prioritise areas that foster the economy’s ability to grow, the leading business group said.

It made the call as it published its submission to the Treasury ahead of the Spending Review next month. The Government previously announced in the Budget that it will make £32bn of annual spending reductions by 2014/15.