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Boris Johnson has dismissed claims that the coronavirus has “stolen my mojo” when he made promises on social care, green energy and housing in his speech at the Conservative Party conference.
the Prime Minister, speaking through a video broadcast to members of his party, launched a strident defense of the private sector while promising to “rebuild better” from the COVID-19 crisis.
Stating that he had “had more than enough of this disease,” Mr. Johnson promised the Conservative members that the next time they meet it would be “face to face and cheek to chin.”
In the most striking of the prime minister’s policy proposals in his speech, Johnson reiterated his election manifesto promise to encourage a new market for long-term fixed-rate mortgages.
The prime minister said, “We will transform the sclera planning system, make it faster and easier to build beautiful new houses without destroying the green belt or desecrating our countryside.”
“But these reforms will take time and are not enough on their own.
“We now need to carry out one of the key propositions of our 2019 manifesto: to give young and first-time buyers the opportunity to purchase a long-term, fixed-rate mortgage of up to 95% of the value of the home – massively reducing the size of the deposit “.
He added: “We believe this policy could create two million more owner-occupants, the largest expansion in home ownership since the 1980s.
“We will help convert generation income into generation purchase.”
In a hint of the possible introduction of an insurance-based plan, Johnson also promised to “fix the injustice of nursing home financing” by “bringing the magic of averages to the rescue of millions.”
“COVID has highlighted the difficulties of this sector in all parts of the UK, and to rebuild better we must respond, take care of the caregivers as they care for us.”
The prime minister confirmed his promise that offshore wind power will supply every household in the country within 10 years.
“Your kettle, your washing machine, your kitchen, your heater, your plug-in electric vehicle – all of them will get their juice clean and blameless from the breezes that blow around these islands,” he said.
“As Saudi Arabia is for oil, the UK is for wind, a place of almost limitless resources, but in the case of wind without the carbon emissions and without the damage to the environment.”
Analysis: PM doesn’t stop questions about his approach
By Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor
Boris Johnson did three things in his speech, none of which were especially memorable.
On the coronavirus, he said that life would return to normal by the upcoming conference season, something that any organizer of large events would quickly cast extreme doubt on.
Even his cabinet ministers doubt we will meet like the conservative conferences of yesteryear in a year, given the likely destruction of the events industry.
Johnson set up a shopping list of promises, almost akin to Gordon Brown at times, with even more “world-beating” futures invocations, judged based on delivery, not announcement.
And he accused Labor of opposing free enterprise, filling the void that Sir Keir Starmer himself is creating on his economic approach, as well as saying that the Labor leader himself was “Captain Hindsight.”
Most notably, he made clear his dislike for critics, suggesting that those who had questioned his fitness after his severe coronavirus outbreak were “seditious” – traitors – and came from Remainers who want to stop Brexit.
Strong as this language is, it won’t make questions about your approach go away.
