A modern economy needs a good physical and digital infrastructure to support business, education, leisure and social services. But, infrastructure projects usually require long term planning and investment. Policy uncertainty, policy changes and priority changes can therefore all lead to lack of action or the waste of effort and resources on cancelled or modified projects. A successful UK industrial strategy therefore ideally needs political and social consensus on priorities, investment levels and individual projects. Sir John Armitt, Chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, will give his views on the need for greater consensus and lead a discussion on how it could be achieved.