A remarkable year ... now for the hard work

FROM profoundly unpromising beginnings, 2019 became the year we finally got our democracy back.

This time last year, the road ahead was beset by demons. Government was stuck fast in a Brexit quagmire and a powerless Theresa May was heading for the departure lounge. Politics had ground to an acrimonious halt.

Twelve months on, we have an optimistic One-Nation Tory Prime Minister with a landslide majority, carried back to Downing Street on a wave of enthusiasm.

The voting public called time on a moribund Parliament stuffed with arrogant MPs who never accepted the referendum result and fought a guerilla war against it.

Most significantly, traditional Labour supporters behind the so-called Red Wall of the North and Midlands decided Boris Johnson represented their aspirations and values far more than the hard-Left Islington cult at the helm of their own party.

From Blyth to Bassetlaw, Dudley to Don Valley, the Tories took seats that had been Labour strongholds for up to a century.

Jeremy Corbyn was given his marching orders (thank the Lord!), militant Socialism consigned to the dustbin (again), and the country saved from penury. It was the year decency and hope triumphed over class-hatred and despair.

The stock market leapt at the election result and is predicted to hit record highs in the New Year. Investment has already begun to pour in as confidence returns.

Business, for all its Brexit reservations, is palpably relieved to have dodged the Marxist bullet. So much for the good news. Now for the caveats.

Mr Johnson made many promises during the election campaign. In 2020 he must show they are more than empty words.

Many of the former Labour voters who propelled him to power have merely ‘lent’ their support. If he lets them down, they will neither forgive, nor forget.

They are predominantly people who live in the left-behind towns of middle Britain – places where national prosperity has largely failed to penetrate.

To emerge from the gloom, they need an infrastructure revolution – vastly improved road and rail links, more efficient broadband, better schools, regeneration of high streets. Government departments should be relocated in the forthcoming shake-up of Whitehall and incentives given to large private employers to relocate.

Reviving these areas is a massive and complex task. But after years of neglect, it must be tackled.

Boris has pledged to ‘unite and level up’ the regions. They will be watching.

Then there is Brexit. Leaving the EU on January 31 is just the start.

A free trade agreement must be hammered out and our smooth departure made a reality. All in a year.

Meanwhile, the social care system is at breaking point and decisive action can’t be delayed any longer. Until this crisis is solved, no amount of money ploughed into the NHS will ever be enough.

Our cutting-edge technical industries – the key to future prosperity – must be supported and nurtured. Imaginative responses are demanded to climate change and other environmental threats.

So yes, Mr Johnson’s in-tray for 2020 is daunting. And if he is to maintain trust, he must deliver.

But he starts with a thumping majority and a huge amount of goodwill in the bank. There is an optimism abroad that simply wasn’t there at the beginning of 2019.

It has been a fractious, bad-tempered 12 months. But with our imminent departure from the EU, the principal argument is over and the healing can begin.

On that positive note, may we wish all our readers a happy and prosperous New Year.