Boris talks a good game in speech to faithful... now he must deliver

EVERY government has a catchphrase. And “levelling up” – the positive message of choice for Boris Johnson’s administration – is as good as any that have been used in recent times.

It speaks particularly strongly to the Westcountry; a region of the country which can definitely stake a claim on Mr Johnson’s phrase, in his speech to the Tory conference yesterday, that, “you will find talent, genius, care, imagination and enthusiasm everywhere in this country...”

The Westcounty is also, as the Prime Minister hinted, one of those parts of Britain where the opportunity to make the best use of all those talents can often be lacking. Levelling up, if it is about anything, is about giving areas held back by geography, or a lack of investment in infrastructure, or even a lack of belief, the chance to shine.

So far, so positive. The problem, for the Westcountry – which through the ‘Back the Great South West’ campaign has already set out what needs to change to help it ‘level up’ – is that so far the Prime Minister has been big on rhetoric but short on action. He cannot go on talking about giving regions the chance to shine but deny them the means to do so. In his enthusiastic and upbeat address to the Conservative faithful yesterday

Mr Johnson said: “Our mission as Conservatives is to promote opportunity with every tool we have.” One of those ‘tools’ has already been fashioned, in detail, by the ‘Back the Great South West’ team. Led by this newspaper and backed by every MP, council leader and senior business representative in the region, the plan for investment in physical and digital infrastructure needed to allow the South West to truly deliver for its citizens and the nation as a whole has been drawn up, costed, signed off and presented to the PM. He just needs to deliver it.

In his speech yesterday Boris demonstrated that he understands the challenges that lie ahead to rebuild Britain’s economy outside the EU, raising skills, productivity and with them wages and living standards.

In his Brexit campaigning he failed to warn quite so explicitly, how difficult it would be to build a new Britain without access to cheap EU labour.

Yesterday he was a good deal more upfront. With petrol in short supply because of a labour crisis in the haulage industry, pigs facing a cull because of too few slaughtermen and butchers, and Christmas at risk for a whole host of reasons, he could hardly be anything else. Some will see the problems as of Boris’s own making. Others will argue that Brexit has provided the spur, partly through necessity, to make the changes needed to lift the economy.

It is notable that, for all the current problems, support for Boris Johnson and his government remains high. In his speech yesterday and in his style of leadership, our Prime Minister looks like a winner.

How much of that is down to sheer force of personality, bluff and bluster and how much to a genuine ability to deliver on his promise, remains to be seen.

Coronavirus forced a pause in the Johnson crusade to change Britain.

The real work starts now.