BORIS WOOS THE WORKING CLASS
PM: I’ll free us from EU rules to protect jobs
BORIS Johnson pledged yesterday to tear up EU rules to protect jobs as he sought to widen his appeal to Labour Leavers.
The Prime Minister gave a ‘no ifs, no buts’ promise that Britain will leave the bloc on January 31 if he secures a majority in the election.
At a press conference in
London alongside fellow former Vote Leave leaders Michael Gove and Labour’s Gisela Stuart, Mr Johnson pledged to deliver on ‘the change people voted for’.
Unveiling policies for a postBrexit world, he said a Tory government would tear up EU procurement rules in order to ‘back British businesses, by ensuring the public sector buys British’.
He said Brussels rules on ‘state aid’ would also be changed in order to ‘make sure we can intervene when great British businesses are struggling’.
He also confirmed the Tories would use Brexit to scrap the so-called ‘tampon tax’ – the 5 per cent VAT levy on sanitary products which cannot be removed under EU rules.
Earlier, Mr Johnson, who was also interviewed on the LBC radio station, reinforced his credentials on tax, declaring: ‘Read my lips – no new taxes on income or VAT or National Insurance.’
He also suggested the long-running freeze on fuel duty would be extended into the next Parliament, a move not in the Tory manifesto and could cost £9billion. Asked directly whether he could rule out an increase, he said: ‘I don’t want to raise fuel duty. I have absolutely no intention to raise fuel duty.’
The moves are designed to shore up Tory support among Labour Leave voters.
Mr Johnson called on Brexit supporters to remember why they voted Leave and warned that failure to secure a Tory majority next month would put the project in jeopardy.
He said: ‘We agreed Brexit was a chance to change Britain for the better, so it has been incredibly frustrating for the 17.4 million who voted Leave that change has been delayed, diluted and denied.
‘Now we have the opportunity to make a decisive break with the dither and indecision of the last three and half years – so long as people vote Conservative.
‘If there’s another hung parliament after this election then the deadlock will continue.’
The proposal to change procurement rules – which cover more than £200billion in the public sector – would cut red tape, say the Tories.
It would also allow for a scheme which encourages hospitals and councils to set a requirement to ‘promote the local economy’ – a move set to favour UK suppliers.
Looser state aid rules would make it easier for the Government to help ailing industries.
A source said a Conservative government would ‘make it faster and easier for the Government to intervene to protect jobs when an industry is in trouble’.
They cited the example of the attempt to help the British steel industry in 2015, when a two-month delay in Brussels signing off a law change to give steelmakers an exemption from green levies cost the sector £40million in government support.
The move to change state aid rules is likely to complicate the free-trade deal Mr Johnson hopes to strike with Brussels.
He said he was confident he could complete the deal by the end of next year but disclosed that No Deal planning will continue.
‘Change Britain for the better’