For more than a generation the UK has suffered from a paradox of ambition without delivery. Governments announce grand infrastructure visions only to retreat into delay, dilution, or cancellation. The result is not simply slower trains or congested roadsm but a deeper political economy failure, fragmented regions, weak productivity growth and a public increasingly sceptical that the state can still do big things well.
There is an urgent radical realist case for a Birmingham-Manchester– Leeds–Liverpool Maglev network (that is, trains running on levitated electromagnets as opposed to rolling on wheels, such as the one seein in Shanghai) as a mission-led investment within Labour’s Industrial Strategy. Such a project should be understood neither as a technocratic transport upgrade nor as an indulgent vanity project, but as a necessary act of national economic rewiring; one which is ambitious in scale, disciplined in design, and grounded in institutional reform.
Radical Realism and the Politics of Scale
Radical realism begins from an uncomfortable truth - incrementalism has failed, but ungrounded utopianism is no alternative. Britain’s long-standing problem - low productivity, extreme regional imbalance, hollowed-out state capacity - are structural. They cannot be addressed through marginal policy tweaks alone.
In this context, large-scale ‘moonshot’ projects are not ideological flourishes; they are tools of structural change. The real question is not whether such projects are risky, but whether the risks of inaction and continued stagnation, managed decline, and public disillusion are greater.
A Birmingham-Manchester-Leeds-Liverpool Maglev network meets the radical realist test because it is:
The radical realist position is clear: ambition must be matched by discipline, but fear of failure cannot be allowed to become a governing philosophy.
From Transport Scheme to National Mission
Drawing on Professor Mariana Mazzucato’s mission-oriented framework, the Maglev proposal should be framed not as a single transport project but as a time-bound national mission, by 2040, to deliver a zero-carbon, ultra-high-speed rail network that integrates the Midlands and North into a single productive economic zone, builds British industrial capability, and restores confidence in the state’s ability to deliver.
This framing matters. Missions provide direction without micromanagement. They align multiple sectors like transport, housing, energy, skills, innovation around a shared public purpose. And, crucially, they replace the narrow logic of cost–benefit optimisation with a broader logic of public value creation.
In Fabian terms, this is not about fetishising infrastructure, but about using infrastructure as a means to social and economic ends.
Regional Growth as Economic Rewiring
Labour has rightly criticised the rhetoric of ‘levelling up’ for mistaking redistribution for development. What Britain requires is not endless compensatory spending, but productive regional growth. Growth that allows places to generate wealth, retain talent, and shape their own futures.
A Maglev connection reducing Birmingham to Manchester journey times to under 30 minutes would effectively create a single, integrated labour and innovation market spanning the Midlands and North West. This would:
Spurs to Leeds and Liverpool would reinforce a polycentric northern economy, while safeguarding a future extension to Edinburgh and Glasgow - which would signal national ambition without over-commitment. This sequence being a hallmark of radical realist planning.
Rebuilding the Capacity of the State
A recurring Fabian concern has been the erosion of the state’s ability to act strategically. Britain does not lack plans; it lacks institutions capable of seeing them through.
This proposal therefore rests on the creation of a National Infrastructure Development Agency (NIDA); a body with long-term statutory authority, devolved delivery powers, and responsibility for mission outcomes rather than contract management alone.
NIDA would embody a rejection of two failed models:
Instead, it would represent a developmental state function, coordinating planning, skills and finance, and retaining institutional memory across political cycles. For a Labour industrial strategy to succeed, such capacity-building is not optional it is foundational.
Technology, Openness and Pragmatism
A radical realist approach to technology rejects both naïve globalism and insular nationalism.
China currently leads the world in commercially deployed Maglev technology. Engaging with that capability is justified on pragmatic grounds, speed, maturity, and cost - provided that procurement is mission-shaped rather than transactional. This means:
This aligns with Labour’s emerging ‘securonomics’ agenda, openness where it strengthens domestic capability; firmness where sovereignty, resilience and public value are at stake.
Clean Growth Without Illusion
Maglev fits squarely within Labour’s Green Prosperity ambitions, but radical realism demands honesty. It is not a climate silver bullet. Its case rests instead on:
Its environmental credibility must be grounded in whole-life carbon assessment, not optimistic modelling. That discipline strengthens, rather than weakens, Labour’s claim to responsible green growth.
Finance, Value and Democratic Legitimacy
Radical realism also insists on candour about costs and seriousness about returns. Large infrastructure requires long-term public finance, but public risk must be matched by public reward.
This means:
Just as importantly, democratic legitimacy requires visibility, clear milestones, transparent reporting, and early tangible benefits. The Birmingham–Manchester first phase allows the state to rebuild trust by delivering, not merely announcing.
Learning from Failure Without Retreat
HS2 exposed deep flaws in Britain’s infrastructure governance. But the lesson is not that the country should abandon ambition. It is that ambition without institutional reform is reckless, while retreat from scale is defeatist.
A phased Maglev mission applies those lessons, tighter scope, clearer purpose, integrated governance, and learning before expansion. In radical realist terms, this is how failure becomes state learning, not state paralysis.
A Fabian Case for a Credible Moonshot
A Birmingham-North Maglev network, framed through radical realism and mission-oriented policy, offers Labour something rare: a project that is bold without being fantastical, and disciplined without being timid.
It is a moonshot not because it chases novelty, but because it matches the scale of Britain’s challenges. And does so with eyes open to political, fiscal and institutional reality. For a party committed to national renewal, productive growth and social justice, the greater risk now lies not in acting boldly, but in continuing to govern as if boldness were no longer possible.
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Rob Balfour was born near the docks of Merseyside and spent much of his childhood in 'looked-after care' in North Wales during the 1970s - experiences later examined by the Waterhouse Inquiry (2000). Those early years shaped a lifelong commitment to justice, truth-telling, and systemic reform for survivors of sexual violence. Drawing on both lived and professional insight, he founded Survivors West Yorkshire in 2000, leading trauma-informed advocacy for male survivors of sexual violence and pioneering video counselling in 2015 to meet their needs holistically. He has worked across community, policy, and digital innovation, arguing that a trauma informed - responsive society and civic renewal are inseparable. Rob is a RAF Regiment veteran and obtained a BSc and MSc Psychology and Counselling as a mature student in his early 50’s and 60’s. He has been a member of the Labour Party off and on for nearly 50 years.
All blog posts represent the views of the author alone and not necessarily those of Mainstream.
