Press watch: Philip Hammond MP: Transport is at the heart of the country' growth

Let's get the obvious one out of the way upfront: Transport can, and will, contribute its share to the government's No 1 priority - deficit reduction. But that is not the only contribution it will make.

Economic growth is crucial to Britain's future prosperity and to paying off our national debt. Transport investment supports that economic growth - allowing people to get to work and goods to get to factories, shops and ports.

Careful investment in transport infrastructure will always deliver benefits in the form of economic growth. 

Social mobility and, in particular, moving people off welfare and into work, often depends on transport infrastructure: If people on isolated and deprived estates cannot get a bus or a train to the nearest city or town, they may be stranded without work and without hope. And our aspiration to rebalance Britain's economy away from overdependence on financial services, and with a better balance across the regions, will also require regional transport infrastructure to support it.

And by no means least, transport will be a major contributor to the government's ambitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Cancelling the third runway at Heathrow and promoting high speed rail; announcing consumer incentives for electric cars and rolling out a roadside charging infrastructure to make those cars attractive to buyers; working on technical developments to substitute biofuels for hydrocarbons in aviation and heavy goods vehicles: All of these initiatives, right at the top of my department's agenda, will play a major role in delivering the necessary reductions in our greenhouse gas output.

So transport is at the very heart of what we do - delivering economic growth, social mobility, regional balance and greenhouse gas reduction - and contributing to the government's deficit reduction programme.

In many ways, it is a microcosm of the wider economy: With the right decisions, we will see solid, sustainable, environmentally-acceptable growth. My challenge is to ensure we make the right decisions.