Defiant Boris Vows To Work Fast To Drag Britain Out Of Slump

Coronavirus: Taking Back Control

- Macer Hall

Boris Johnson yesterday vowed to “work fast” to get Britain’s economy motoring again after the coronavirus crisis.

In a rallying cry for national recovery, the Prime Minister said the Government will turn on the spending taps and slash red tape to trigger a construction boom.

He also took the controls of a digger on a visit to Dudley, West Midlands, to demonstrate his desire for the UK to “build, build, build” its way out of the slump caused by weeks of lockdown.

“We must work fast,” he said in a keynote speech announcing the acceleration of projects worth more than £5billion including new hospitals and roads and upgrades to schools, prisons and courts.

Mr Johnson hailed Britons for “a display of solidarity not seen since World War Two” in pulling together to observe the lockdown that has driven down virus infections.

And he pledged to channel the same spirit in the effort to kickstart the economic recovery.

Formula

He said: “We must combine that energy and drive with that concentrated burst of collective willpower that protected the NHS, controlled the virus and saved literally hundreds of thousands of lives and we must work fast.

“Let’s take the zap and elan of the Armed Services who helped to build the Nightingales. Let’s take the selflessness and the love of the health and the care workers and the charities.

“The public spirit and the good humour of the entire population.

“And let’s brew them together with the superhuman energy of Captain Tom, bounding around his garden at the age of 100 and raising millions for charity.