As the FT noted overnight:
Business leaders are demanding that the government boost infrastructure spending in the north after it scrapped or reviewed projects that were part of the Northern Powerhouse plan. Two lobby groups representing thousands of companies have each written letters to ministers calling for an end to the north-south divide in investment in rail and road networks.
Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, cancelled the electrification of part of the Midland main line to Sheffield and said in July that a promise to run electric trains from Liverpool to Newcastle might also be broken.
There is, of course, an easy way to fund these schemes. As a backstop it is people's (or green) QE, which I explain here.
But if it was linked to People's Pensions (also see here) in the first instance people would have a secure and reliable way of providing for their retirement whilst making their present day a lot better. It's a winning combination. And it's not rocket science either.
What's bizarre is that something so logical, so cost effective, and so economically compelling has never happened. But that's because it does not pay for the finance sector. And that's all you need to know about why we have not got the economy we need or want.
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Funding these projects is easy; it’s resourcing the projects that is the problem. You need trained construction crews and engineers, and the best available at the moment are in Chinese cities like Tianjin who would love a fixed-term contract to work in the UK.
But the UK fears immigration of workers and hates liberal planning systems. Building accommodation for single migrant workers who pay their own way is haram in the UK. And so the Chinese construction crews are going to work linking Thailand to the rest of Asia instead.
Your loss.
[…] economy but that can also be met by ending austerity and running deficits or by creating bonds to fund worthwhile investment. Both have real social benefit and create jobs. Unwinding QE, on the other hand, sells secondhand […]
I don’t find anything bizarre about this at all Richard. It’s typical thinking by neo-lib politicians who want to shrink the state.
Make the State look weak and effective and then you can justify giving society completely over to markets. This is what Buchanan was all about. And then you get a vanity project like HS2 rather than a better overall network.
I find that fact that we are now going to build electro diesel trains (duel fuel sources) a joke to be frank. Diesel needs to be eradicated and as for batteries I need to be more assured about how sustainable they are.
I find Yang’s comment somewhat strange. There are plenty of electrification specialists in Europe let alone Asia. We could find the capacity to do anything over time if we wanted to. The thing is that those in charge (Theresa & Co) do not want to because of blind ‘idiotology’ (sic).
We also can see another possible effect of a hard BREXIT – our inability to draw on expertise and labour from Europe for such projects – never mind Asia.
What a pickle we are in because of the deliberate stupidity of a Tory party that just loves to treat the running the country no more seriously than a game.
We actually had crews of experienced electrification engineers in this country until privatisation destroyed our rail industry. We also had lots of useful knowledge, such as the fact that British Rail did extensive research on the subject of electrical clearances, which blows all the arguments about engineering issues that Grayling hides behind, completely out of the water.
Count in Wales, too! Please!
I agree
But I also think the Welsh government should be saying it
Replies to my letter to Welsh Govt ministers and the First Minister Carwyn Jones on railway electrification policy reversals were – “its not devolved”. However, after all the crowing of Tory ministers, especially Welsh Secretary (Alun Cairns), regarding railway electrification in south Wales, Carwyn Jones concluded that trust has been lost in the Tory Govt to conduct itself [honestly]. His remarks were referenced to Brexit, but I assume he also means we’ve had enough of false promises and ‘pay back’ to Wales, so how can Wales or Scotland believe in Brexit promises.
It is interesting to see that Russia has built a new 122.5 km double track high speed link using 25KV ac overhead power to avoid transit through Ukraine. It was completed in 2 years, though possibly with military help.
http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/infrastructure/single-view/view/russia-completes-railway-to-bypass-ukraine.html?sword_list%5B%5D=Ukraine&sword_list%5B%5D=bypass&sword_list%5B%5D=line&no_cache=1
Absolutely agree that funding via the Peoples Pension is an excellent way forward. This will mean many ordinary people having a direct stake in infrastructure investment which affects their everyday lives. PFI was a disater and will continue to be a millstone for a long time to come. It also acknowledges that Government itself need not do everything and is often more effectively deployed as a facilitator for cooperation between civil society groups and organisations. Interestingly the Tories keep pointing to the USA in an effort to prove that privatisation is the only desirable end goal. The reality of the US is very different as a look at the operation of the New York Power Authority demonsttates very well. The real benefit to rail electrification, however, will come with investment in the surrounding technologies of renewable generation, increased efficiency in energy transmission and storage.