In a speech in Parliament in March 2012 he recommended to his colleagues a paper by O'Sullivan in "Economic Affairs" as crucial reading "for anyone who seriously wants to understand ...why governments of all persuasions struggle to meet people's needs and expectations." Thomson argued that since about 2% of existing infrastructure comes up for renewal each year, and this is a cost governments struggle to pay, a mere 1% annual increase in population may impose an almost unpayable increase of up to 50% in infrastructure costs: