British Prime Minister Boris Johnson assured on Sunday, June 28 that there would be no return to austerity policy 10 years ago, and the response to the crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic would be increased spending to level the playing field.
Boris Johnson
/WILL OLIVER /PAP / EPA
On Tuesday, Johnson will present an action plan that the government intends to take to overcome the economic problems caused by the epidemic. He announced the announcement of these actions in an interview for the newspaper “Mail on Sunday”. He promised to spend billions of pounds to protect the economy against the effects of coronavirus. They are to be published, among others for the construction of hospitals, schools, roads, railways, houses.
“It’s a huge, huge shock for the country, but we will bounce back very well from it. We want to build our recovery path. The lesson is to act quickly and ensure that we have plans to help people whose old jobs no longer is to get the opportunities they need. We are absolutely not returning to the savings of ten years ago, “Johnson assured.
Johnson referred to the actions taken by the conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and Finance Minister George Osborne in response to the financial crisis. They managed to reduce the public debt inherited from the Labor Party by 10 percent. up to less than 2% GDP, but this did a great cost to society.
“Tuesday on Sunday,” Johnson will announce the establishment of a special task force chaired by Finance Minister Rishi Sunak to develop an infrastructure investment plan. It will contain, among others construction of 40 new hospitals, investments in education and creation of 10,000 new places in prisons.
The British prime minister emphasized that this is not just about physical infrastructure, but also about a plan to equalize opportunities for all.
“We will need a very active, dynamic plan: not only in terms of infrastructure, not only investments, but also to guarantee young people that we will help them get to the labor market, improve their skills, continue to train them in the workplace and provide high-paid, high qualified work that will keep them in good shape for a long time “- he said.
As Mail on Sunday writes, Downing Street strategists are afraid that if the government does not take swift action, the coronavirus-induced economic havoc will be felt particularly strongly in northern and central England counties, i.e. those who usually voted for the Labor Party, but in the last election in December, they supported the Conservative Party, which gave Johnson a decisive victory. Prior to the outbreak of the epidemic, Johnson repeatedly assured that equalizing opportunities and equalizing the standard of living between individual regions of the country would be his priority.
According to forecasts, Great Britain will experience the deepest recession in history this year, with GDP falling by up to 15%. and an increase in unemployment from 3.9 percent. before the epidemic to around 10 percent, although forecasts predict a fairly rapid rebound next year.
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