BORIS: WHY AUSTERITY WAS WRONG FOR BRITAIN
PM breaks free from Tory past with shock declaration about decade of cuts
BORIS Johnson last night signalled a break with the Tory past by declaring austerity measures were a mistake.
The Prime Minister claimed the drastic public spending cuts under David Cameron and George Osborne in the wake of the financial crash were “not the right way forward” for the country.
In a bold signal of his ambition to win over millions of former Labour supporters in the General Election, Mr Johnson promised a
very different approach” if he wins a Commons majority in the December 12 poll, with more investment to “unleash the potential of this country”.
His declaration followed an election spat over the future of the NHS yesterday. He dismissed allegations from Jeremy Corbyn that the health service would be up for grabs in UK-US trade negotiations as “total nonsense”.
As he visited patients at West Cornwall Community hospital yesterday, details of an interview with the Spectator magazine emerged.
In it the Prime Minister set out his personal commitment to protecting public services. Hinting at a major spending splurge to appeal to traditional Labour voters, he promised a majority Tory government under his leadership would be different from the administrations run by both Mr Cameron and Theresa May.
“I have great respect for my predecessors, it goes without saying, great respect, but this is a new government and we have a new agenda and it will be a different agenda,” the PM said.
“This is not a continuity government. This is a new government, we have a very different approach. If we can get in with a working majority, we will have a transformative agenda for the country.
“That’s what I want to see and I genuinely, genuinely want to see the talents of all this country. There is an injustice at the moment that can be tackled and we have the means of doing it.”
He said he had privately opposed the policy of cutting public spending to reduce the Treasury’s colossal deficit under Mr Cameron’s coalition.
“I remember having conversations with colleagues in the government that came in in 2010 saying I thought austerity was just not the right way forward for the UK,” the PM said.
Signalling his support for loosening the Treasury purse strings, he added: “We also are going to be very different in our overall view on how to unleash the potential of this country.”
His remarks are likely to irritate Mr Cameron and former Chancellor Mr Osborne, who led the drive to slash public spending by £30billion.
They are also likely to be seized upon by senior Labour figures who have repeatedly claimed austerity was a political choice rather than a necessity.
Ignored
Under the austerity programme, public servants faced a pay freeze followed by years of below-inflation rises.
All Whitehall departmental budgets apart from health were slashed in nearly a decade of spending restraint.
Mr Johnson also vowed to use Brexit as an opportunity to transform the country and tackle injustice.
“After 45 years of EU membership, people were feeling that parts of the UK were simply being ignored.
“The model of our economy that the EU membership seemed to go along with was leaving people behind. What I want to do is get on with a programme of levelling up, of uniting the country. “I want to see this country very different in ten, 15 years’ time. I want to see that change in regions and towns that have been neglected.”
He said past governments had failed to invest in many struggling parts of the country. Mr Johnson explained: “The Treasury has basically looked at certain parts of the country and thought that they weren’t cash cows, from the point of view of delivering revenue.
“I take a different view. That this country is so underprovided for in brilliant infrastructure that you can make a good business case for many things.” Mr Johnson also blamed Remainers for more than three years of Brexit paralysis since the 2016 referendum. He promised to energise the economy after Brexit with what he called “boosterism” – government action to kick-start growth. “Once we get this thing done, we will either be bounding over the veldt or savannah or we will be soaring down the autostrada and doing free trade deals around the world,” said the PM. “We’re going to build new friendships. That’s the exciting thing.”