Two hundred years of railways – so why can't we build things today?
Two sessions at this year's Battle of Ideas festival will look at our infrastructure crisis and whether the state can rescue British industry.
Saturday 27 September marks the 200th anniversary of the opening of the Stockton to Darlington railway – the world’s first steam-powered passenger rail service. This was at the height of the Industrial Revolution and was another demonstration of how we could overcome nature’s barriers to improve the lives of humanity.
But two centuries on, the UK seems incapable of completing any infrastructure project on time and on budget – if we build it at all. From the much-diminished HS2 rail line to Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, building the things we need to further grow and develop our economy and society seems to be becoming impossible. Is the problem government incompetence – or that we’ve left too much to the free market and it’s time for the state to take a firmer hand?
We’ve got two sessions at the Battle of Ideas festival looking at these problems. On Saturday 18 October, we’ll be discussing Rebuilding Britain: the infrastructure crisis. On Sunday 19 October, I’ll be chairing a session titled From steel to railways: can the state revitalise British industry?. (Full details of both below.)
Tickets for the festival weekend, at Church House and the Abbey Centre in Westminster, are still available here.
Rebuilding Britain: the infrastructure crisis
SATURDAY 18 OCTOBER · 2:45PM –4:15PM
The UK’s infrastructure is at a crossroads. Decades of underinvestment and misdirected investment have left transport networks congested, energy systems under strain, digital connectivity patchy, sewers clogged, towns flooded, bridges crumbling and housing targets seemingly unattainable.
The government promises 1.5million new homes and yet we are faced with a major slowdown in the construction industry, a situation not helped by local resistance and bureaucratic inertia. The situation is further restrained by a lack of adequate support systems like schools, colleges, hospitals, and even courts and prisons.
Cost overruns on projects like HS2 erode public trust, but day-to-day staff shortages, engineering works, train cancellations and leaves on the line are what really frustrate commuters. Grenfell Tower was a national tragedy, but spending billions on recladding buildings and funding bureaucratic regulators – instead of training builders to construct sufficient, affordable homes for those in need – seems inexplicable. Planning laws, environmental concerns, over-regulation, risk aversion, litigiousness and insurance liabilities have exacerbated the problem.
But what is the actual problem?
To be fair, this year, Keir Starmer announced that the government would ‘push past nimbyism’ to get things done. Although tangible evidence has yet to materialise, recent ministerial pledges have included the desire to streamline planning, kickstart New Towns and boost energy provision. In August, the government announced a £130million package to help create 40,000 jobs in the construction sector
So maybe we are not giving credit where it’s due. This government has pledged to build nine new reservoirs, expand Heathrow, construct new nuclear and small nuclear reactors, and it has recently announced a £63million investment package to supercharge Britain’s electric-vehicle infrastructure. In June 2025, it laid out its ‘10 Year Strategy’ for UK infrastructure, whereby the government pledges to deliver growth in roads, railways, airports, water networks, energy grids, digital and housing infrastructure in order to deliver a more productive economy. Maybe we shouldn’t grumble.
How believable are the government’s plans? How do we balance local concerns with national housing and infrastructure needs? If we can’t maintain existing networks, how can we possibly create the next generation of infrastructure, like AI networks, smart systems, modular homes, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, drone deliveries and low-carbon energy systems?
SPEAKERS
Paul Finch OBE
programme director, World Architecture Festival
Ben Flatman
architectural editor
Shelagh McNerney
head of regeneration, Manchester City Council
Christopher Worrall
industry fellow, Onward
CHAIR
Austin Williams
director, Future Cities Project; honorary research fellow, XJTLU, Suzhou, China; author, China’s Urban Revolution
From steel to railways: can the state revitalise British industry?
SUNDAY 19 OCTOBER · 3:45PM – 5:00PM
Not long ago the consensus was that the West was under the sway of so-called ‘neoliberal’ ideas, implying a zeal for free markets and a limited role for the state. The reality was that the ‘free market’ was, in fact, often highly regulated by government. However, over the past decade the pendulum has swung in favour of expanding government economic interventionism. It has become de rigueur for politicians of all stripes to endorse industrial policies and protectionist measures in the pursuit of economic growth and jobs.
Many argue this simply reflects changed circumstances, rather than an ideological refresh. State activism became legitimate again as a seemingly inescapable response to the pandemic and the lockdowns. Subsequently, the renewed openness to state intervention was reinforced by the impulse for national self-sufficiency and security in a more dangerous and fragmented geopolitical world. In particular, China’s economic take-off is now usually interpreted as a threat to Western industries and jobs, justifying a resort to state aid and a retreat from free trade.
In Britain, the political momentum behind government economic activism has become near universal. Even Reform UK has been downplaying its earlier ‘smaller state’ inferences; instead, it has been promoting interventionist policies, including nationalising British Steel’s Scunthorpe plant, the government taking over failing water companies, and increasing welfare spending.
Critics question whether higher state spending and nationalisations can be afforded given record budget deficits and public debt. But perhaps such concerns are overstated, particularly if any borrowed funds are used productively, rather than being frittered away in financing inefficient day-to-day government activities. Borrowing to spend on new infrastructure wouldn’t just provide jobs in the short-run, but builds a stronger foundation for businesses to flourish in the future.
Some highlight the paradox that although the state has become more interventionist than ever, simultaneously it seems to be less potent in its results. This dilemma highlights the core question about the impact of the state: to what extent are Britain’s economic problems down to the state intervening too little, too much, or in the wrong way?
Would Britain’s potential high-growth sectors, such as the life sciences and digital technologies, benefit from a visible helping hand from the state, at least until they get up and running? Or do state incentives and subsidies mainly sustain the unprofitable activities that are encumbering this broken economy?
SPEAKERS
Liam Halligan
columnist, Sunday Telegraph; author, Home Truths: the UK's chronic housing shortage
Lord Stewart Jackson
Conservative peer, House of Lords
Phil Mullan
writer, lecturer and business manager; author, Beyond Confrontation: globalists, nationalists and their discontents
Hilary Salt
deputy leader SDP; actuary; partner, First Actuarial
CHAIR
Rob Lyons
science and technology director, Academy of Ideas; convenor, AoI Economy Forum; author, Panic on a Plate