BREXIT BOUNCE DELIVERS HISTORIC VICTORY
Election success is built on leaving EU and ‘ambitious change,’ says Boris
BORIS Johnson credited the success of Brexit for triggering a string of historic election victories yesterday.
The bounce saw Labour’s stronghold of Hartlepool elect its first Tory MP, as a blue wave gave the party a majority of almost 7,000 in the town.
Conservatives seized control of councils across the country and the jubilant Prime Minister said: “People want a party and a Government that is focused on them, focused on delivering change.”
Mr Johnson said Leave backing Hartlepool had given his Government the thumbs-up for securing a successful departure from the EU. He declared the
result “a mandate for us to continue to deliver for not just the people of Hartlepool, not just for the people of the North-east, but across the whole of the country”.
As Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer admitted his party had “lost its connection” to voters, a huge hole was knocked in its Red Wall with a big win for the Tories in the Tees Valley mayor race.
Rising star Ben Houchen was reelected on a landslide of threequarters of the poll, giving the Tories two parts of their target “hat-trick” of electoral successes.
Party sources last night had high hopes they would also retain the West Midlands mayor’s seat when the result is called today.
Across the country Conservaties took councils in Northumberland, Harlow, Redditch, Dudley plus Nuneaton and Bedworth.
Celebrating in Hartlepool yesterday, the Prime Minister said voters now wanted the benefits of freedom from Brussels and to go from “jabs to jobs”.
As a giant inflatable Boris loomed over delighted supporters, Mr Johnson said: “If there was a lesson out of this whole election campaign... across the whole of the
UK, it’s that the public want politicians to get on with focusing on their needs and their priorities.
“Coming through the pandemic, and making sure that we then build back better – and you can see some of the evidence of economic confidence that the Bank of England’s been talking about, the prospect of a really strong rebound in the second half of the year. People want us to focus on that.
“This is a place that voted for Brexit, and we got Brexit done.”
Mr Johnson said the UK could regain control of its borders and take action independently of the EU, such as rolling out Covid vaccines and blocking football’s breakaway European Super League.
He added: “We’re able to do things a bit differently when it’s come to the vaccine rollout that’s been so important, and able to deliver that faster than other European countries. So it’s about delivery. It’s about getting on. That’s the mandate that the people have given us. “This election shows people want a party and a Government that is focused on them, focused on delivering change.” Mr Johnson said voters were attracted to Government plans for the Northeast including a “freeport” enterprise zone across Teesside and a new Treasury campus at Darlington.
High-wage, high-skilled jobs were benefitting the region through
the local manufacture of wind turbines in the Government’s “green industrial revolution”, he said.
“People understand that, they can see that and those are the kinds of jobs that not only pay well, they have high skills.” Mr Johnson emphasised again that voters had rewarded his Government for achieving his Brexit promise.
“They can see we did. They can see that we delivered.What people want us to do now is to get on with delivering on everything else.
“Number one is continuing the vaccine rollout, making sure that we go from jabs, jabs, jabs, to jobs, jobs, jobs. Make sure that we have a strong economic recovery, but then get on with the massive project for this country...and that is uniting and levelling up.
“There is genius and talent and enthusiasm and flair and imagination everywhere in the country but opportunity is not evenly distributed. That’s what we’re trying to change.”
Mr Johnson congratulated Jill Mortimer, Hartlepool’s first Tory and first female MP:“She’s been a wonderful candidate and fought very, very hard for every vote, I think she’ll be a wonderful MP.
There was a 16 per cent swing from Labour as she was backed by 15,529 votes – a majority of 6,940 over Dr Paul Williams.
The North Yorkshire farmer and councillor said she was “immensely proud to be the first Conservative MP in Hartlepool.
“It is a truly historic result and a momentous day.
“Labour have taken people in Hartlepool for granted for too long. I heard this time and time again on the doorstep. The people have spoken. It is time for change.”
Ms Mortimer added: “People voted for that positive change of jobs and investment, and that is exactly what I’m going to deliver.”
In Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said her SNP was on track to return to power but claimed that an outright majority was a “very, very long shot”.
BORIS Johnson is in a stronger position than ever following the historic victory in the Hartlepool by-election by nearly 7,000 votes. This remarkable result in a former Labour heartland will give the Prime Minister, as he put it, a “mandate for us to continue to deliver”.
Mr Johnson delivered jabs and saved jobs and voters in Hartlepool and in council areas across the country rewarded his party at the polls.
He has convinced people the country is on the right course and he clearly believes it. There are epic challenges ahead, such as the restoration of the nation’s finances, but he wants to be remembered as one of the great PMs and has a burning ambition to “level up” impoverished parts of Britain.
This is an urgent task that has confounded previous governments but the UK will never fulfil its post-Brexit potential if the prosperity enjoyed in London and the south-east is not replicated in former industrial heartlands.
The PM does not need to be a master of detail to achieve great change, just as a brilliant conductor need not be able to play all the individual instruments.
Instead, Britain needs a maestro who can unite and inspire this nation with a vision for a modern renaissance, and Mr Johnson may well prove to be the leader we need to unlock the energy, imagination, investment and confidence to make this happen.