{"id":682012,"date":"2026-01-08T10:43:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/682012\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T10:43:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:43:20","slug":"labours-build-baby-build-promise-broken-as-construction-contracts-for-12th-month-in-a-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/682012\/","title":{"rendered":"Labour\u2019s ‘build, baby, build’ promise broken as construction contracts for 12th month in a row"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s construction sector ended 2025 under sustained pressure as activity contracted for a 12th consecutive month in December, according to new industry data.<\/p>\n

The S&P Global UK Construction Purchasing Managers\u2019 Index registered 40.1 last month.<\/p>\n

This is despite the Labour Government’s promise to deliver 1.5 million new homes by the end of this Parliament.<\/p>\n

This figure did however mark a slight improvement from November\u2019s reading of 39.4.<\/p>\n

Despite the uptick, the index remained well below the 50.0 threshold that separates expansion from contraction.<\/p>\n

The December figure was the second-weakest reading recorded since May 2020, marking the height of the pandemic-related shutdown of building sites across the UK.<\/p>\n

The latest data showed that the pace of decline eased compared with November’s figure, representing a five-and-a-half-year low for construction activity.<\/p>\n

Survey respondents reported that workloads continued to shrink as 2025 drew to a close as new orders fell throughout every month of the year.<\/p>\n

However, the rate of decline in new business moderated in December, with housing and commercial construction recording the sharpest falls among the main sectors.<\/p>\n

Both segments experienced their steepest downturns since May 2020 as the housing activity index dropped to 33.5, alongside commercial construction activity, which fell to 42.0.<\/p>\n

\"Sir<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s construction sector ended 2025 under sustained pressure<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

The figures reflected weak demand across much of the private sector with civil engineering the weakest-performing category overall, where the index stood at 32.9 in December.<\/p>\n

This represented a slight improvement compared with November\u2019s reading.<\/p>\n

Despite the marginal improvement, activity in the sector remained deeply subdued.<\/p>\n

Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said the data pointed to continued widespread weakness.<\/p>\n

“By sector, latest data indicated the fastest reductions in housing and commercial construction since May 2020, while civil engineering was the only segment to signal a slower pace of decline than in the previous month.”<\/p>\n

Survey evidence suggested that fragile client confidence continued to weigh on demand.<\/p>\n

\"\\u200bAngela<\/p>\n

Angela Rayner promised to build 1.5 million new home as Housing Secretary<\/p>\n

| PA<\/p>\n

Construction firms reported that workloads were held back by delayed investment decisions.<\/p>\n

Many respondents said projects had been postponed ahead of November\u2019s Budget.<\/p>\n

These delays were said to have left sales pipelines weak even after fiscal uncertainty eased.<\/p>\n

Mr Moore said: “Despite a lifting of Budget-related uncertainty, delayed spending decisions were still cited as contributing to weak sales pipelines at the close of the year.<\/p>\n

“UK construction companies once again reported challenging business conditions and falling workloads in December, but the speed of the downturn moderated from the five-and-a-half-year record seen in November.”<\/p>\n

He added that subdued demand remained a key factor.<\/p>\n

Mr Moore said: “Many firms cited subdued demand and fragile client confidence.”<\/p>\n

Employment levels across the sector continued to decline during December as construction firms reported further reductions in staffing numbers.<\/p>\n

Purchasing activity also contracted sharply as respondents said lower workloads led to reduced demand for materials and subcontractors.<\/p>\n

Despite the continued fall in activity, confidence among construction firms showed signs of improvement. Business optimism for the year ahead rose to its highest level in five months.<\/p>\n

Around 37 per cent of companies surveyed said they expected output to increase over the next twelve months, compared with 20 per cent of firms that anticipated a further decline in activity.<\/p>\n

“Total new orders nonetheless decreased to a much lesser degree than in November, while business activity expectations for the year ahead rebounded to a five-month high.”<\/p>\n

Some firms pointed to potential increases in infrastructure spending as a source of optimism. Mr Moore said survey respondents highlighted expected investment in utilities projects.<\/p>\n

“Some survey respondents attributed greater optimism to projections of rising infrastructure spending, especially in the utilities sector.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The levelling up of building in local communities aims to solve the housing crisis<\/p>\n

| PA<\/p>\n

There were also expectations that financial conditions could improve, as Mr Moore said hopes of lower borrowing costs and easing inflation were supporting sentiment.<\/p>\n

He added: “There were also hopes that lower borrowing costs and easing inflationary pressures could boost demand across the construction sector.”<\/p>\n

The survey also showed signs of easing cost pressures with input cost inflation slowing to its lowest level in fourteen months.<\/p>\n

Respondents linked this to softer demand for materials and more competitive pricing from suppliers.<\/p>\n

While activity remained firmly in contraction territory, the data suggested conditions stabilised slightly at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

The sector now enters 2026 with workloads under pressure – but expectations improving modestly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s construction sector ended 2025 under sustained pressure as activity contracted for a 12th consecutive month in December,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682013,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[51,1700,528,1232,285,16,3106,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-682012","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-labour-party","11":"tag-money","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-uk-politics","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115859069665968686","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}