-
: Britain can be Europe’s biggest economy by 2050
- investment in the North and Midlands key to achieving this
- announcement follows huge £401 million railway boost
today (27 May 2021) outlined his vision for
the future of transport in the UK – and said it can power us to
become the biggest economy in Europe.
In a wide-ranging speech to travel bosses, passenger groups and
the media, the Transport Secretary set out an ambitious blueprint
for rail, roads and greener travel.
At the centre of this vision are plans to ‘level up’ the country
by driving jobs and opportunity to the Midlands and North. These
include £317 million upgrading rail lines, and recent reforms to
improve bus and rail services across the country.
Transport Secretary said:
It’s about sparking the talent, the flair, and the self-belief
of regions that once led the world in productivity, ensuring
every region has the opportunity to be as productive. If we can
do that, then we can achieve something remarkable. Every part
of the country, unleashed from the restraints of outdated
public infrastructure, thereby matching the south-east’s
productivity. Well that would make the UK the biggest economy in Europe by
2050.
A genuinely successful economy has to be a fair economy,
harvesting potential wherever it can be found, ensuring
talented youngsters want to remain, want to build their
futures, and their communities. That’s what ‘levelling up’ is
all about. Not only helping the current generation… but
building for future ones.
More than £29 billion has been spent on transport across the
North since 2010, with national projects like HS2 creating tens of thousands of highly
skilled jobs, and work to reconnect towns stripped of their rail
connections during the Beeching rail cuts.
The speech followed yesterday’s ground-breaking announcement of
£401 million for faster, greener and more reliable rail services
– the biggest investment in the network since the Victorian era.
And it comes just one week after the government launched Great
British Railways as the new public-service body to own the tracks
and direct the train operators, bringing better service and value
to commuters.
The Transport Secretary added:
I said when I started this job, getting the trains to run on
time was my top priority.
But rather than obsess about ownership, we believe that what
the railway needs is simplification. That is the change Great
British Railways delivers.
Looking to the future, he hailed our transport network as key to
helping the UK recover from
the pandemic, and emphasised bold green targets backed up by
innovation and technology – from electric power and autonomous
vehicles, to space travel, drones, superfast and universal
internet access, and the use of big data.
He went on to say:
I know some people think demand for rail and bus travel will
never fully recover. Videoconferencing, they argue, is now
embedded as the way we do business. But I think that prediction
will quickly be overtaken by reality, as our economy bounces
back …
A more productive economy is a busier one, creating new reasons
to travel. It might not always be for the same reasons, or at
the same times as before. But people need – and like – to
travel.
Transport links are the arteries through which the lifeblood of
human interaction flows, so as our country prospers and our
economy grows, so too will our transport system.
The ambitious speech also pledged to get the basics right, with
the Bus Strategy offering simpler fares, easier information and
greener services, and more on-demand buses in rural areas.
Hosted by thinktank, Policy Exchange, the event took place both
virtually and live, with audiences able to listen in on twitter,
YouTube and Instagram.
