Boris Johnson may enjoy a day in the sun, but now the hard work really begins

There’s now an end in sight for the two major issues facing the UK: Brexit and coronavirus. But Johnson will still have to work hard as he finally looks to the long-term economy, writes Chris Blackhurst

Time to focus on the levelling up agenda and to save the union (Anadolu/Getty)

One down, one to go. Of the two enormous challenges to beset Boris Johnson’s first year in office, one, Brexit with a deal, has been accomplished.

All credit to him for achieving what many people, myself included, thought would be well nigh impossible – although, lest we forget, the need was self-inflicted. If you’re a die-hard Remainer and wish to stay in the single market, the agreement Johnson struck will never be acceptable; likewise if you’re an arch-Brexiteer and want all ties with the EU to be scrapped. But if you fall somewhere in the middle, then what has been accomplished is fine. It’s a horrible, weaselly word, fine. Not brilliant, not perfect, just fine. It’s the same as OK. A nod, a shrug. This will do.

There’s a worry as to what is not in the document. As an island nation we’re fixated with our sea ports. The White Cliffs of Dover are seared on our collective consciousness. Something, it seems, isn’t actually exported from our shores until it is driven by a lorry on to a waiting ship. Yet the reality is that most of what we sell overseas is invisible, ours is a service economy, it has been for years now, and little reference was made to services in the 1,000 pages accompanying the Brexit accord.

So, while the sight of trucks lining up through Kent due to the French not wanting our strain of Covid-19 may have hardened thinking in those final days of the Brexit talks, and sections of the media were issuing dire warnings about possible shortages of food and other essential supplies, of greater importance for our national prosperity is how leaving the EU will affect the City of London and other service sectors. Dominic Raab was widely mocked when he said that he did not realise the economic importance of the Channel crossing, but in a sense, given our trading imbalance, he was right.

For a year, the prime minister has not had to pay serious attention to the long-term economy

Nevertheless, for peace of mind if nothing else, the free flow of goods, albeit with some extra document checking, is guaranteed. Services will be covered in negotiations in the months ahead, and, with renewed rapprochement in the air, the likelihood is that an accommodation similar to this agreement, amenable to both sides, will be reached. It will be fine, it will be OK.

The three sticking points of fish, the level playing field and future implementation are done. The outcome so far is fine, it’s OK. Services will be next.

That leaves the pandemic still to be resolved. While the infection numbers are soaring, hospitals struggling to cope and with much of the nation now shuttered in Tier 4, the current situation is one of crisis. Scientists, though, have worked a miracle, and the vaccines coming through are genuine cause for optimism, that come the spring, the dangers posed by the virus will be in retreat.

In a few months then, the two great tasks that have fallen to the Johnson government, to depart the EU without provoking chaos and hardship, and to overcome the biggest medical emergency in decades, should be over. Brexit and corona – between them they have dominated government and political activity and thinking these past 12 months. Other subjects, different policy initiatives, have been subsumed into a monumental, all-embracing effort to surmount the pair of giant obstacles. Their going really is an occasion for relief.

Johnson of course is likely to go further and hail their passing as a personal vindication. Already, we’ve seen him with arms outstretched in triumph as the EU held their press conference to announce the Brexit pact.

He can have his moment in the sun, but that’s all it will be. A fleeting moment. With Brexit and the outbreak out of the way, what next? For a year, the prime minister has not had to pay serious attention to the long-term economy, and to just how he is going to fulfil his promise and level up the north of England with the south. He’s not had to worry too much about the union and how he can persuade the Scots to stay. BC, or Before Covid, Johnson had thrown out election pledges, among them increased resources for the police, vastly increased building of new homes, improved infrastructure, boosts for state education and the NHS, and greater provision of skills relevant to 21st century. He’s since added the greening of industry, making Britain a world leader in eco-friendly commerce and manufacturing.

With minds concentrated elsewhere, on getting Brexit done and on battling Covid, there has been little pressure to explain how he will do all this. Johnson has not had to get specific, he’s been able to fall back on his natural bluster and boosterism. The detail can be left to a later date. Well, that time is fast approaching. Soon, all being well with the vaccines rollout, he will have to begin to deliver on his array of objectives. He does so against a backdrop of an enormous financial and social bill from corona, devastated retail and hospitality sectors and deserted city and town centres. Much hard work has taken place in the past year. More hard work, though, is about to begin.