By the decade’s end, Poland will surpass Great Britain. Once the richest country in Europe for a hundred years, Great Britain’s fortunes have declined since World War II. After a brief resurgence in the 1980s and at the onset of Tony Blair’s administration when its economy seemed poised to align with those of the US, Germany, and France, Britain has faced stagnant economic growth for decades. This is highlighted in “Foundations,” a compelling and well-researched book by Ben Southwood, Samuel Hughes, and Sam Bowman. It illustrates that energy expenses for industries in the UK have risen threefold in two decades, long before Russia invaded Ukraine. The essay reveals that labor productivity is 15 to 18 percent higher in France and Germany, with this disparity growing. The UK’s electricity production barely approaches two-thirds of France’s output and, as the authors note, resembles the electricity production in countries like South Africa and Brazil more than it does its G7 peers.
Former British Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party, Sir Tony Blair
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Indeed, vast areas of the nation are descending into poverty and neglect, where working people’s median earnings are 7 percent lower than they were in 2008. France, being the most suitable comparison for Great Britain, leads to the conclusion that it has 37 million households against Britain’s 30 million, despite a slightly larger population in the UK. Additionally, French homes are generally newer and more frequently located in pleasant, prosperous areas. The authors present a startling statistic: the Greater London region has not experienced significant growth since 1945, whereas the area surrounding Paris has tripled in the same timeframe.
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France boasts 3.4 million families with second homes, while the UK has only 800,000. There are 29 tram systems in France compared to Britain’s 7, and 6 underground networks to 3. Since 1980, France has constructed 1,740 kilometers of high-speed rail, versus just 111 kilometers in the UK, and 12,000 kilometers of highways compared to 4,000 in Britain… In simple terms, as the authors assert, over the past quarter-century, France has built as many kilometers of roads as exist in total in Britain!
Manchester City
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The former glory of Great Britain appears to have diminished. Cities such as Cardiff experienced a 1,000 percent increase over 45 years in the 19th century, in a significant migration that drew workers northward, as well as to the Midlands and Wales, capitalizing on the boom in coal-driven heavy industries. This migration is described by the authors as crucial for a country’s wealth: when its populace gravitates towards its most vibrant regions and cities. Manchester’s population ballooned from 90,000 in 1800 to 700,000 by the century’s end, while Liverpool’s surged over 1,000 percent during that time. This expansion continued into the 1930s, fueled by the service industry and benefitting cities like Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, and Nottingham.
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The individuals who relocated to these thriving areas enabled those who remained to use competition and labor shortages to negotiate better pay in neglected regions. However, this trend has reversed recently, with the scarcity and costliness of housing in affluent areas of Great Britain creating a harsh selection process that primarily benefits the wealthy and highly educated. As affordable living in the UK’s prosperous cities becomes increasingly exclusive, broad swathes of the country are devolving into socio-economic wastelands, adversely affecting the national economy.
The London Underground
The London Underground
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What has happened to this once prestigious nation that had the finest transportation system in Europe? Who engineered—back in the 18th century!—approximately 36,000 kilometers of toll roads and 6,500 kilometers of canals? Who laid an extensive railway network in the 19th century… of which merely half remains today? Who inaugurated the first underground metro line as early as the 1860s? Who outfitted 90 of its cities with tram lines—nearly all of which have since been dismantled? These infrastructure advantages significantly propelled its exceptional economic growth, firmly establishing London as the world’s economic epicenter.
London Elizabeth Line
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Today, these legacy systems are hampered by exorbitant design, construction, modernization, and renovation expenses, which are among the highest in Europe. The authors compare the cost per mile of metro construction, indicating GDP 68 million for Madrid versus GDP 1.4 billion for the Elizabeth Line, or Crossrail, which serves London and its extensive suburbs. Urban expansion, enhanced living standards, and growth require mobility and electrification; thus, France has facilitated tram systems in all cities with populations of 150,000 since its costs are 2.5 times lower than in Britain, where the level of electrification is reportedly on par with that of India. For perspective, Leeds, a city with 800,000 residents, lacks a metro system altogether.
United Kingdom making strides toward coal-free power plants
The same nation that had as many nuclear power plants as the US in 1965, along with Russia and others globally, has not built any in three decades and now relies on nuclear energy for only 13 percent of its consumption, as opposed to 70 percent in France. From being an energy superpower, Great Britain has shrunk in stature, a reality evident today (the authors state) in its citizens’ height, historically 5 centimeters taller than the French due to their higher caloric intake by 600 calories.
New Civil Engineer reports that the Lower Thames Crossing will utilize cutting-edge tunneling technology to navigate difficult conditions
It takes the UK a decade to see an infrastructure project go from conception to completion, while France achieves this in three years. The Lower Thames Crossing project connecting Kent to Essex required a report of 360,000 pages costing GDP 300 million, and it remains unfinished. The Sizewell C project aiming to build a nuclear power plant with EPR technology necessitated an environmental report of over 44,000 pages and has not yet begun. According to Ben Southwood, Samuel Hughes, and Sam Bowman, Great Britain stands as the developed nation with the most significant energy shortfall in the world.
In my view, the failures lie with the elites. I also contend that it is clear Brexit is not the cause of Great Britain’s decline. Brexit was, in a sense, a consequence of the poor—or absent—choices made by the British over the past 40 or 50 years.
To learn more about the author, Michel Santi, click here: michelsanti.fr
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