Johnson slams British government

London – Former foreign minister Boris Johnson launched a twopronged attack on Britain’s government on Sunday, criticising suggestions it may increase taxes to fund services and its management of a high-speed rail project.

In his weekly column in the Telegraph newspaper, Johnson called on the government to avoid turning on the “hard-pressed taxpayer” for money to fund public services and, instead, em- brace Brexit to spur a “dynamic economy”.

“We do need to spend more on the [National Health Service]. We must find the extra £20 billion (R393 billion) that the chancellor has rightly promised.

“We do need to step up our investments in the police and schools and other vital public services,” he wrote.

“But I am afraid I am not convinced that the answer is immediately to turn to the hardpressed taxpayer, when Britain is now by no means a low-tax economy compared with several other jurisdictions in Europe.”

Britain should look to the United States, he said, using what he called an unfashionable argument to highlight its high growth rates, record low employment and what he described as a government that “wants to liberate and energise people”.