In recent days, Boris Johnson has increased the number of appearances in fluorescent vests and worksite helmets. Tuesday, June 30, just before his first big "post-Covid" speech, the British Prime Minister was still visiting a construction site in Dudley, a big city in the Midlands, ex-capital of the "black country" during the first industrial revolution. His message was clear, it appeared written in full on his desk when he spoke: "Build, build, build!" " ("Let's build, let's build, let's build!")
With the optimism that characterizes him, Boris Johnson therefore announced that he wanted to inaugurate a "Infrastructure revolution" to revive the economy of the country, stopped for three months because of the pandemic crisis, but also " enjoy " of the latter for "Respond to problems that have not been resolved in our country for decades", notably the imbalance between London and the south of England, rich and dynamic, and the center and north, impoverished by deindustrialization.
1.5 billion for hospitals
Referring to the New Deal launched by US President Roosevelt in the interwar period, he promised to "Build better, greener, faster", with an initial envelope of 5 billion pounds sterling, of which 1 billion to build new schools, 1.5 billion to rehabilitate hospitals, and the rest devoted to road projects. Mr. Johnson also proposed deregulation of building rules: commercial premises should be able to be converted into apartment buildings, retail businesses into cafes without prior authorization.
Finally, 12 billion will be spent over eight years on the construction of affordable housing: a commitment already present in the 2020 budget presented by Rishi Sunak, Chancellor of the Exchequer, just before the Covid-19 crisis. "We will not respond to this crisis with austerity, because the world has changed since 2008 (…) and because the cost of debt is low right now, " said the Prime Minister, who confirms that he remains on an interventionist line, new to the Conservatives.
"There is a lot of rhetoric in his speech, it is especially in the amplification of his campaign promises" for Tim Bale, political scientist at Queen Mary University in London. In late 2019, Mr. Johnson won a historic general election victory by promising to "Achieve Brexit" and by committing to an unprecedented spending program (recruiting 20,000 police officers, building 40 hospitals, etc.).
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