Four items on Boris Johnson’s post-election to-do list
Re-elected Prime Minister Boris Johnson travelled to Buckingham Palace today to ask the Queen to form a majority government in her name after winning big in the General Election.
Johnson’s “stonking majority” means his government will have a clear run at enacting his parliamentary agenda and carve out a clear direction for the country.
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So, what is at the top of Boris Johnson’s to-do list for the next five years?
1. Deliver Brexit
As Johnson has said all campaign his first priority will be to “get Brexit done”.
With a deal already signed off by Brussels, and with a hefty parliamentary majority, Britain should be out of the EU within weeks and certainly before 31 January.
However, that doesn’t mean all is finished on this front.
The government will then need to agree to the terms of a free trade agreement with the EU so trade between the two entities is not disrupted.
Johnson has set a deadline date of December 2020 to get a trade agreement done, which would be near-record time for a free trade deal.
Johnson believes it can be done quickly, because the UK and the EU are starting from a point of regulatory alignment.
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2. Improve the state of the NHS
The Conservative manifesto has pledged to spend £34bn on the NHS over the next five years, including a pledge to hire 31,000 new nurses and build or upgrade 40 hospitals. These figures are contested, however.
The Prime Minister said at a victory speech this morning that the health service would be his government’s top priority and that he would “massively increase NHS funding”.
“Whoever we are, rich, poor, young, old – the NHS is there for us,” he said.
“When we are sick and every day that service performs miracles.
“The NHS is this One Nation government’s top priority.”
3. Get Bobbies back on the beat
Another key pillar of Johnson’s campaign was hiring 20,000 new police officers across the nation.
This was a policy that was unveiled before the election, but remained throughout the campaign as one of the three key pledges from the Conservatives.
The recruitment drive comes after successive David Cameron and Theresa May Conservative governments cut 21,000 police officers.
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4. Write a blank cheque?
The Conservatives made their top three priorities clear: Brexit, the NHS and crime. However, Johnson’s manifesto was a fairly light document.
While there are other key pledges – such as immigration reform, £100bn on infrastructure and reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 – there is a feeling that Johnson has a blank cheque to more or less do what he wants in government after this victory.
However, the question remains: What sort of Tory prime minister is Johnson?
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His victory speech certainly outlined, once again, that he wants it to be a “One Nation” Tory government that is more liberal on fiscal policy than David Cameron or Theresa May.
This may well include increased investment in the north in all those working class constituencies the Tories were able to flip yesterday.
In any case, the former mayor of London is now the most powerful prime minister in a generation and could have carte blanche to take the party wherever he wants.