We face a very uncertain future in UK unless we adopt radically new ideas, yet we have a government without inspiration which just repeats the worn-out and inadequate policies of the past.

For example. to combat inflation, we increase interest rates, tacitly ignoring the fact that this inevitably feeds inflation via the devastation imposed on anyone with a mortgage, is in debt or made redundant. What are the alternatives? Milton Friedman taught that reducing the money supply was a better way of controlling inflation; the US did this successfully in the 1970s.

A recent problem, RAAC concrete has been known as a risk for decades. In 2018 a school roof collapsed, yet the Government , six years later, decided only days before schools reopened, that over 100 of them were at risk with some too dangerous for children to enter.

Virtually everyone in the developed world is concerned about our increasing release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Arrhenius in 1896 said that if we continued to burn fossil fuels, we would cause global warming. If we had acted on his advice then, we wouldn’t be in the state we are in now with a changing climate. This is increasing the frequency of flooding, droughts and forest fires, resulting in water shortages, property damage and the depletion of food crops. Yet governments fail to act decisively.

During the Biden administration, America subsidised US located environmental businesses. As a result, critically important businesses moved out of Britain and other countries to benefit from these subsidies. It is widely thought that Britain cannot withstand this competition, and faces continued decline. But there is an alternative, it’s called Modern Monetary Theory (MMT); i.e printing money.

The Gold Standard prevented new money being produced. Since nations left the gold standard, new money is printed by governments and banks, thus the world tacitly operates MMT.

There are many examples where money printing has been successful:

• The American Civil War was partially financed by Lincoln who printed money.
• In 1816, desperately poor Guernsey printed currency to pay workers to build roads and public building. Islanders gladly accepted the currency and thereby, Guernsey pros-pered. And yet inflation remained modest.
• Many European countries stopped the link to gold during the Great War to permit them to print money to fund the war.
• In the 1930’s, on Hitler’s instructions, the Reichsbank President fabricated a nonexistent company which printed IOUs, these were traded as currency for rearmament. This is how Germany, a broken nation, grew to dominate and conquer virtually the whole of Europe in the second world war.
• Following the scourge of the Great Depression, Britain came off the Gold Standard in 1931, making more money available, increasing demand for goods and allowing the country to escape deflation.
• Following the financial crisis of 2008, UK and other nations, printed money via Quanti-tative Easing. The aim was for banks to invest in businesses, and boost the economy. Unfortunately, our financial masters were naively unaware that banks would seek to maximise profits by investing in assets and property, inflating prices to the extent that young people cannot now afford houses.
• The Roosevelt New Deal of 1933 was successful because the President took the nation off the Gold Standard, allowing money printing and massive investment in public works and agriculture.

The 1929 Great Depression destroyed livelihoods around the world caused partially by adher-ence to the gold standard, limiting the ability to grow the money supply. US Manufacturing de-creased by 33%, prices collapsed by 20%, unemployment rose from 4% to 25%, with nearly 13 million out of work and 30% of those who were employed finding only part-time work. Farm incomes fell by over 50%. Between 1930 and 1933, an estimated 844,000 mortgages were foreclosed, banks failed, life savings were lost and lives were devastated. Political and business leaders feared revolution and anarchy.

Just as now in the UK there were demands in US for financial stringency led by Budget Director Lewis Douglas, who wanted only short-term assistance for the unemployed and no provision of a work programme.

Fortunately, Roosevelt ignored these demands. His New Deal programs built the Tennessee Valley Authority, gave work to millions of unemployed, appointed 50,000 teachers. 2,500 hos-pitals and 45,000 schools were built. It established 13,000 parks, 7,800 bridges, 700,000 miles of roads, 1,000 airfields and gave hope to millions who would otherwise have been destitute.

Britain needs the determination of a Roosevelt to overcome the moribund state we are in.

Indiscriminate use of money printing can, of course, lead to explosive inflation as in the Weimar Republic after WW1. The inflation which the Weimar Republic suffered can be avoided by limiting money production only to investments which yield a return. For example:

• The UK has one of the world’s highest childcare costs, many mothers give up work to care for their children and are lost to the workforce. Providing completely free childcare would release a large section of the population to engage in the economy.
• A programme advising on medical, financial and parenting skills for teenage students, would reduce delinquency and dependency when they become parents.

We are investing in new sources of food and energy but not enough. We should invest more in R & D, some examples are:

• Algae can produce more oil than crops like rape, palm, soya, and can be harvested in a matter of days. It flourishes where other crops would die. Residue from algae can enrich soil. CO2, released in alcohol production can be absorbed by algae with each ton consuming 2 tons of CO2. Protein rich algae can be a food source for fisheries. Algae can extract minerals such as nickel and zinc from industrial water.
• A tidal barrage built in the Severn could produce the equivalent energy of 6 nuclear power stations and allow low cost, low carbon steel production to continue in Wales – it would be the British equivalent of the Hoover Dam.
• Sea grown kelp grows up to 2ft per day, reaching up to 150ft, needing only sunlight and nutrients in the sea and can provide fuel for vehicles, fertiliser, vitamins, minerals etc. Government website speaks of knowledge gaps, more money should be spent on filling these gaps.
• To reverse the trend for UK companies going overseas, new start-ups should be encouraged by being absolved from paying tax for five years. This would increase their profitability and attractiveness to entrepreneurs and would cost nothing to the exchequer since they do not currently exist.

There are many other areas of the green economy such as hydrogen, vertical farming, water recycling which could yield dividends if the government made strategic investments.

Why do our Ministers take so long making decisions? Despite the critical importance of their roles, it is probably the only profession that requires no training or experience. Ministers change roles repeatedly - in one recent five-year period, there were six business secretaries and four Prime Ministers. One example is Sajid Javid. In around a decade, he was responsible for culture media and sport, health, the home office, chancellor of the exchequer, secretary for business, secretary for housing, secretary for housing and local government, secretary for equality. It is humanly impossible for anyone to take over these very demanding positions, stay in them for a couple of years and in some cases a few months and make knowledgeable decisions which can affect the welfare of the nation?

It is too easy for a Prime Minister to shuffle Ministers. Around 30 shuffles were made in September 2025. It is inconceivable that all of these were underperforming so badly that it was necessary for them to be moved and then to take up new roles for which they were untrained. Is it possible that, after much criticism of his lack of decisiveness , the Prime Minister wanted to show that he could make difficult decisions?

Many Ministers lack the fundamental educational tools to appreciate the complexities of chemical reactions, intricacies of structural engineering, health requirements or the complexities and consequences of taxation. They fail or delay taking actions because they fear losing elections if they adopt unpopular, but necessary policies. This in itself is an inhibitor of economic progress.

It is readily apparent that our political regimes are incapable of coping with the exigencies of the 21st Century. Why are our governments lacking drive, ambition and innovation? There are many reasons. Our politicians are too comfortable – salaries, pensions, allowances and expens-es are completely reliable even if they make a total mess of their responsibilities.

So what changes should we, the electorate seek to make?

Prior to elections, each Party makes impossible claims, for example, the Labour Party in 2024, constantly emphasised it was pro-business and pro-growth. With a few decisions, Chancellor Reeves and Energy Secretary, Milliband has reduced growth, put tens of thousands out of work, allowed over 16.000 high net worth, taxpayers to leave the country, permitted pharmaceutical, oil and petrochemical companies to close and others to reduce or stop investment. The Labour Party has plainly worked against the policies it was elected for.

It should be mandatory that claims made before an election must be supported by independent economic and practicality analyses. If, when in power a Party fails to demonstrate adherence to its promises, it should be held to account by a body such as the OBR.

The principle of Opposition is wasteful of resources. Even if the Party in power has a good idea, it will be denigrated in that oft used phrase ‘too little, too late.’ Parties, in their manifestos should be mandated to find common ground to avoid spending Parliamentary time debating common issues.

Ministers should remain in office for a minimum prescribed period, be trained prior to taking office and should have knowledgeable, independent, non-political advisors to assist them.

The UK has the highest energy costs in the G7. This causes manufacturers to be reluctant to invest in the country. This could be transformed by using more of our own fossil fuels including fracking. Energy Secretary Milliband, appears to be incapable of realising the damage he is doing. We, of course need to reduce our carbon consumption but his policy of importing oil and gas actually consumes more carbon than using our own resources. By making common sense decisions, UK could again become a successful nation.

Civil servants who are ostensibly in a position to give advice, should suffer reduction in income if Government policies on which they have advised, fail to produce a return.

More detail on these topics can be found in ‘Agenda for the Future’, available from Amazon.

Derek Bates is a consulting scientist and author of ‘Agenda for the Future’ (available on Amazon)