Boris Johnson news: Keir Starmer says PM's economic recovery plan 'not enough' as May attacks government over civil service shake-up
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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said Boris Johnson's economic recovery plan for coronavirus is "not enough" to prevent a crisis after the prime minister warned on Tuesday that "many jobs are not coming back" after the pandemic.
The prime minister announced a £5bn infrastructure spending boost on Monday night for hospital maintenance, high street rescues and road upgrades but critics warned the plans failed to address the need for action on climate change or the extent of the economic crisis brought on by Covid-19.
It came as former prime minister Theresa May sharply criticised the government over the decision to appoint David Frost, the UK's chief Brexit negotiator, as a national security adviser, despite the diplomat having "no proven expertise in national security".
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Johnson’s economic plan is ‘woefully short’ of what is required, Sturgeon says
Nicola Sturgeon has said Boris Johnson’s proposed economic stimulus is “woefully short” of what is required and leaves the UK well behind Germany’s recovery plan.
“£5bn in economic stimulus is woefully short of the £80bn that would put UK on a par with Germany,” Scotland’s first minister said.
“I also suspect there will be less to it than meets the eye in terms of genuinely new money.”
Trump ‘humiliated and bullied’ Theresa May in phone calls, report claims
Donald Trump’s conversations with former prime minister Theresa May have been described as “humiliating and bullying” by US officials, according to a CNN report.
“He'd get agitated about something with Theresa May, then he'd get nasty with her on the phone call,” a source told the US news organisation.
The US president reportedly criticised Ms May over her approach to Brexit and Nato during her time in office.
You can find an extract from the report below:
Our reporter, Adam Forrest, has more details below on the CNN report about Donald Trump’s interactions with Theresa May:
MPs bound by 2m social distancing rules despite wider easing of lockdown measures
MPs will be ordered to stay two metres apart in parliament until the end of the summer recess, even though the government’s “one-metre plus” approach is set to be introduced in England in the coming days.
The strict social distancing rule, which is at odds with Boris Johnson’s move to ease restrictions, will remain in place with a review of the measures when the Commons returns in September.
Our political correspondent, Lizzy Buchan, has the full story below:
Labour calls for urgent Downing Street press conference on Leicester lockdown
Labour’s shadow health secretary has called on Matt Hancock to hold an urgent press conference this afternoon to answer “outstanding questions” on the local lockdown in Leicester.
The government recently scrapped the daily Downing Street briefing and said it would only hold such conferences when it had an important announcement to make.
Jonathan Ashworth warned in a statement that the government’s response to the coronavirus spike in Leicester had left people “anxious and confused”.
“We support the government’s decision to reintroduce lockdown restrictions,” Mr Ashworth said.
“However, there are a number of outstanding questions about how the government intends to implement these restrictions and get the outbreak back under control.”
“There is confusion about essential travel and what it means for people who travel to work outside the boundaries.
“There is also no clarity about what extra resources will be put in place to increase testing capacity and what financial support will be available to businesses.”
The shadow health secretary added: “Number 10 said the afternoon press conferences would now only take place if the government had ‘something really important to say’.
“We believe the situation in Leicester meets that criteria.
“That is why I am urging the health secretary to hold a press conference this afternoon and give the public the answers and reassurance they deserve.”
Boris Johnson is set to announce his so-called New Deal economic recovery plan today and you can watch his speech live on The Independent's YouTube channel.
Labour MP dismisses Boris Johnson’s New Deal as a ‘pipe dream’
Labour MP Liz Kendall has dismissed Boris Johnson’s multi-billion pound New Deal plan as a “pipe dream”.
The prime minister claimed he would follow in the footsteps of US president Franklin D Roosevelt, who led the US out of the Great Depression in 1930s, by investing £5bn in infrastructure projects to help stimulate the nation’s economic recovery.
“Remember Boris Island Airport - it's a pipe dream - [like] the garden bridge that was never built,” Ms Kendall, Labour’s shadow social care minister, told Sky News.
“Roosevelt actually delivered and saved America from the Great Depression, I think the jury will be out on Boris Johnson for that.”
Johnson warns ‘full economic reverberations’ from Covid-19 crisis are still to come
Boris Johnson has warned “the full economic reverberations” from the coronavirus pandemic are still to come as he sets out his plan for the economic recovery from the crisis today.
"We must work fast because we've already seen the vertiginous fall in GDP … because we are waiting as if between a flash of lightning and the thunderclap, with our hearts in our mouths for the full economic reverberations to appear,” the prime minister said.
This Johnson speech is a little bit all over the place but the message is simple - the government is insisting it is not planning to use austerity in its economic recovery for the pandemic.
Johnson: Britain needs to move with ‘levels of energy and speed not needed for generations’
Boris Johnson has said the UK needs to move with “levels of energy and speed that we have not needed for generations” amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis.
“It may seem a bit premature to make a speech now about Britain after Covid when that deceptively nasty disease is still rampant in other countries and when global case numbers are growing fast,” Mr Johnson said in his keynote speech at a technical college in Dudley, West Midlands.
“And when many in this country are nervous, rightly, about more outbreaks - whether national or local - like the flareup in Leicester.
“Where, as I promised, we are putting on the breaks, and I thank the people of Leicester for their forbearance.”
He added: “And yet we cannot continue simply to be prisoners of this crisis. We are preparing now, slowly, cautiously, to come out of hibernation and I believe it is absolutely vital for us to set out the way ahead so that everyone can think and plan for the future: short, medium and long-term.
“Because if the Covid crisis has taught us one thing: it's that this country needs to be ready for what may be coming, and we need to be able to move with levels of energy and speed that we have not needed for generations.”
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