Katy Balls Katy Balls

How Boris Johnson plans to reset his premiership

Picture by Pippa Fowles / No. 10 Downing Street

The decision to significantly ease lockdown from early July marks a new chapter when it comes to the government’s approach to coronavirus. After a miserable few months, the hope in Downing Street is that with the number of confirmed new cases down to pre-lockdown levels, the government can return some form of normality – and get back to delivering its election manifesto promises.

It was this message that Dominic Cummings was keen to get across in his meeting with special advisers on Monday night. Boris Johnson’s senior aide acknowledged that recent events had made this difficult. First, Brexit, which dominated Boris Johnson’s first few months in office. Second, a global pandemic that arrived on these shores on the day the UK left the EU. He said that now was the time to get back to delivering on their promises – pointing to pledges for new hospitals and nurses.

There are even some MPs who have begun to ask whether Johnson is really up to the job for the full term

Next week, the Prime Minister will give a speech aimed at hammering this point home. With the working title Build, Build, Build, Johnson will use the set piece event to explain how he hopes to combine the UK’s coronavirus recovery with his ‘levelling-up’ agenda. A team has been working on it – separate to those focussed on the latest stage of lockdown easing. He is expected to deliver it away from Downing Street – in a sign the PM is keen to get out and about. Johnson is expected to talk about the ways he wants to improve the country in the wake of coronavirus through policy on the environment, infrastructure and public services. A key part of this will involve relaxing planning laws and cutting red tape.

Old pledges to build infrastructure in the form of hospitals, schools and railways will be revisited.

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