It is almost seven years since Philip Hammond, then chancellor of the Exchequer, officially abolished the private finance initiative (PFI) in England, branding the model “inflexible and overly complex”.

The Conservatives never warmed to that particular brand of public-private partnership (PPP) deals after coming to power in 2010, even though New Labour had by then used PFI to deliver more than 600 individual projects across the UK. After Hammond sent it to the knacker’s yard in November 2018, the whole idea of PPP became something of a political taboo.

But now, the Labour government’s promise of an era of national renewal is running up against the hard reality of the public finances. Despite coming to power with no particular desire to restart a big private finance programme, the government is now being forced – by a stuttering economy and empty Whitehall coffers – to look again at how to get private capital to pay up front for the infrastructure the country needs.