Britain's transport infrastructure is, quite simply, not fit for purpose. Heathrow, as the nation’s most important air travel hub, can only be described as inadequate. While all other major European airports have increased their capacity, it took more than two decades just to plan the new Terminal five and a third runway is nowhere in sight.

Ground transport on Britain’s roads and rails is equally substandard. In no other European country can one find fewer roads per person. On average, for every Briton there are six metres of road. Even in the much more densely populated Netherlands, and in Japan, they have seven and nine metres per person respectively.

Britain is number one in one international league table: congestion. Statistics show that on every kilometre of Britain’s road network more than 1.6m passenger kilometres are travelled every year – more than twice the European average.

Britain’s rail network fares no better. British railway tracks are among the least electrified in Europe, and while high-speed rail networks have been in operation in countries such as Japan and Germany for decades, the UK has only just introduced such trains. And, when it comes to its public transport infrastructure, Britain is no match for its international rivals. The London Underground is notoriously unreliable and overcrowded on many of its lines. Yet, season tickets are the most expensive of any capital city.

Clearly the UK’s transport network is unable to meet the needs of a modern country. In fact, it has become one of the bottlenecks of the economy. The government-commissioned Eddington Report came to the conclusion that 13% of traffic would be subject to start-stop conditions by 2025 if the transport system was left unchecked. The Economist Intelligence Unit also warned that the UK risked slipping down the global business environment rankings if its transport infrastructure does not improve.