The UK desperately needs better infrastructure, particularly east-west roads to link the regions and make them less dependent on London. The government should therefore borrow heavily at the current ludicrously low rates for the very long term (50-100 years plus) and get building – fast.
Here are a few ideas to get the ball rolling. A new super-highway/ring-road outside the M25 – call it the MX-100 – linking the ports of Harwich and Felixstowe with Southampton (via Northampton and Swindon).
A new M47 linking the new port at Great Yarmouth with Peterborough, Leicester, Stoke on Trent and Ellesmere Port.
A new M69 linking Newcastle and Carlisle – as well as upgrading the A1 to full motorway status all the way from Cambridge to Edinburgh (connecting with the M90 to Perth and then on to Aberdeen via Dundee).
A new motorway from Manchester direct to Sheffield – and on to Worksop, Lincoln and then Grimsby and Hull.
A road and rail bridge across Morecambe Bay from Fleetwood (linking with the M55/M6) to Barrow (home of BAE).
Finally a canal, to rival the Panama or Suez, linking Grangemouth near Edinburgh with Clydebank and Port of Glasgow (so cutting the journey time from the North Sea to the Irish sea and reviving two major ports).
There are plenty of smaller cross-country routes that would also deliver lasting economic benefit for the whole of the UK if they could be brought up to a standard fit for C21.
Plus we need to build 500,000 new homes every year for the next 10 years – preferably in and around the towns and cities mentioned above, rather than cramming ever more people inside the M25.
Simple really.
@HuwSayer
Huw Sayer 
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