Boris billions to rebuild Britain
Prime Minister vows to make the ‘incredible partnership’ of Union stronger
BOrIS Johnson has vowed to invest billions of pounds to rebuild Britain and strengthen the ‘incredible partnership’ of the Union.
The Prime Minister yesterday unveiled details of a £5billion package of measures in a bid to avert a Great depression and get the country back on track following the Covid crisis.
It will include upgrades of key infrastructure such as schools, hospitals and roads.
He promised to finally deliver on plans to dual the a1, which links Edinburgh with England, and confirmed a study will assess a cross-sea link between Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Other projects which could stand to benefit include an extension of the Borders railway to Carlisle.
The high-profile commitment to the Union comes a day after the Mail revealed he has set up a Cabinet sub-committee to look at Union policy, which will be chaired by Michael Gove and will feature the Chancellor, rishi Sunak, among the members.
In a speech designed to refocus the Government on his key priorities following nearly four months which have been dominated by the battle against coronavirus, Mr Johnson vowed that he would ‘build and rebuild’ connections to every part of the UK.
He said the Union has already ‘more than showed its worth’ during the pandemic after the ‘might’ of the UK Treasury helped rescue nearly 800,000 jobs through the furlough scheme and self-employment support.
He said: ‘We will build and rebuild those vital connections to every part of the UK. Because now is the moment to strengthen that incredible partnership between England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. I know that sometimes people pick up the legitimate variations in the response between the devolved administrations. But when you look at the whole effort you can see the absolutely vital role of that Union.’
He said the armed services have played a ‘crucial role’ running test centres, building hospitals and transporting people from islands such as Shetland to hospital.
The PM also said it was ‘the might of the UK Treasury’ that set up the furlough scheme and sent funding to all parts of the UK.
Mr Johnson added: ‘So I think the Union has more than showed its worth. and a prosperous and united kingdom must be a connected kingdom and that is why we are now accelerating projects from South-West to the NorthEast, from Wales, to Scotland, to Northern Ireland.
‘and to drive economic growth in all parts I can say that we will carry out a study of all future road, rail, air and cross-sea links between our all our four parts of the UK.’
He said a government first promTransport ised to dual the a1 in 1992 but pledged: ‘This Government is going to do it.’
although most parts of the a1 is now dual carriageway, there are still 36 miles of single carriageway in Northumberland and eight miles in the Scottish Borders. is devolved to the Scottish Government, meaning any direct investment in Scotland would need an agreement with SNP ministers.
One cross-Border project some in the UK Government are keen to progress is an extension of the Edinburgh-Tweedbank Borders railway to Carlisle.
Mr Johnson promised a study ‘of all future road, rail, air and crosssea links between our all our four parts of the UK’ – which will include a feasibility assessment of a tunnel or bridge linking Scotland and Northern Ireland.
He said he wanted to ‘mend the indefensible gap in opportunity and productivity and connectivity between the regions of the UK’ and to ‘unite and level up’.
The Prime Minister said: ‘We will build, build, build. Build back better, build back greener, build back faster.’
dr Liz Cameron, chief executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce, said: ‘Plans to rebuild our economy must be backed with both intent, collaboration and investment of a scale not seen since the last century.
‘The Prime Minister set out a compelling case for investing in infrastructure and we urge both the Scottish and UK Government to work together to put shovelready projects on the table and deliver investment to ensure the economy is supported in the immediate, medium and long term.
‘Boosting consumer confidence by announcing VaT cuts, providing further job security by extending the furlough scheme for the
‘We will build vital connections’
hardest hit sectors and providing guaranteed opportunities for our young people are just some of the immediate steps both Governments should collaborate on and deliver for business.
‘The Scottish Government must ensure all consequential funding is allocated towards rehabilitating the economy and creating jobs.’
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: ‘The Prime Minister made clear today how incredibly important our strong United Kingdom is.
‘The connections between the different parts of the UK are vital to that success.
‘The Prime Minister’s plan to improve transport links and infrastructure right across the country shows the UK Government’s
unwavering commitment to strengthening the Union and boosting further the UK’s internal market.
‘I look forward to working with the devolved administration on key infrastructure improvements across Scotland, building on our successful joint work on city and region growth deals.’ On Mr Johnson’s new Cabinet sub-committee on the Union, Pamela Nash, chief executive of Scotland in Union, said: ‘It’s clear that the SNP is still playing constitutional games despite the coronavirus crisis, so the UK Governthe ment needs to ensure the UK works for all of its citizens.’
Nicola Sturgeon said she was ‘underwhelmed’ and claimed there would be no knock-on funding for the Scottish Government. She said: ‘We may see a reprofiling of consequentials we were already expecting but we are not expecting any significant additional consequentials.
‘This is simply shuffling around money that was already in the system and I don’t think that is commensurate with the scale of the challenge that we face.’
The First Minister said the money announced would amount to less than half a per cent of the UK’s GDP, compared with Germany’s commitment to spend 4 per cent of GDP.
‘Rehabilitating the economy’