BOJO the BUILDER
PM OUTLINES HUGE SPENDING SPREE TO PULL BRITAIN OUT OF ECONOMIC CRISIS
BORIS JOHNSON has promised to ‘build, build, build’ as he announced a £5billion infrastructure spending spree to help the economy cope with the aftershock of the pandemic.
The prime minister acknowledged that some jobs which existed before the crisis ‘are not coming back’ but an ‘opportunity guarantee’ would ensure placements or apprenticeships.
Mr Johnson said ‘every young person’ would have the ‘chance of apprenticeship or an in-work placement so that they maintain the skills and confidence they need to find the job that is right for them’.
Speaking in Dudley, West Midlands, Mr Johnson promised there would not be a return to austerity but instead there would be a stimulus package inspired by US president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal that led his country out of The Great Depression in the 1930s.
The announcements included £1.5billion for hospital maintenance, more than £1billion for a ten-year school rebuilding plan, £100million for roads and £900million for ‘shovel ready’ projects in England. Acknowledging the situation in Leicester, Mr Johnson said ‘we cannot continue simply to be prisoners of this crisis’ and chancellor Rishi Sunak would set out a plan next week to support the economy.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the spending was ‘less than £100 per person’ and much had already been announced, adding: ‘There is not much that’s new, and it’s not much of a deal.’
Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, of the Confederation of British Industry, said it could help but long-term plans ‘will falter without continued help for firms’.
Meanwhile, No.10 has denied a cut in its affordable homes scheme. It was granted £12.2billion over five years in the Budget in March but is now being billed as an eight-year plan.