PRIME Minister Boris Johnson hopped on board a vintage tram today while on a visit to Lancashire.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (right) viewing a vintage tram during a visit to Blackpool Transport Depot
He was joined by Communities Secretary Michael Gove for the trip to Blackpool, on the back of the Government's Levelling Up announcement.
The pair were photographed in the driver's cab of a tram during a visit to Blackpool Transport Depot.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (right) and Communities Secretary Michael Gove (centre) in the driver's cab of a tram during a visit to Blackpool Transport Depot
They also went to Talbot Gateway, a major regeneration scheme set to transform the heart of Blackpool town centre.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to Talbot Gateway in Blackpool
The Prime Minster was seen donning a hi-vis jacket and hopping into the cab of a construction digger.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the cab of a construction digger during a visit to Talbot Gateway in Blackpool
Today's visit comes following the publication of the Government's plans to tackle regional inequality.
Levelling up was a key slogan of Johnson’s 2019 election campaign.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the cab of a construction digger during a visit to Talbot Gateway in Blackpool. Picture date: Thursday February 3, 2022.
The ambition is to address the vast regional inequalities across the UK but without, as the Prime Minister puts it, “cutting down the tall poppies” or trying to “hobble” wealthy areas.
Now there are a dozen national “missions” to be met by 2030 setting out to give real-world substance to the slogan.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to Blackpool Transport Depot
Transcript of Boris Johnson’s interview with broadcasters during a visit to Blackpool Transport Depot
Reporter: It (levelling up) is a long-term programme of eight years, people are facing real problems today, is levelling up leaving it too late?
Boris Johnson: “You’ve got to do everything you can at once and as we come out of Covid we face a real cost-of-living crunch caused largely by the inflationary spikes you’re seeing around the world, particularly in energy, and the Government has to help people and we are helping people, just as we’ve helped people throughout the pandemic.
“And so what Rishi has announced today is a £9 billion package to help people with the cost of their energy, very considerable support for people, and then 27 million households will benefit from a council tax rebate worth £150 and a £200 loan on top of that.
“So a lot of money going in now to help people with the cost of living on top of what we’re doing with the living wage, with the effective tax cuts for people on Universal Credit.
“But you know, all this investment, all this helping people, is only going to work if we have a sustainable, long-term economic recovery with high-wage, high-skilled jobs, and so what we’re doing today is putting in the investment here, for instance, in Blackpool £22 million going into the tram network, and that is driving thousands more jobs, private sector jobs, because we think – I think – that levelling up is a fantastic mission for our country and it’s about recognising there’s genius and talent everywhere, and you need to unleash it. But you’ve got to have the private sector leading it.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson (centre) and Communities Secretary Michael Gove (second right) viewing a vintage tram tram during a visit to Blackpool Transport Depot
Reporter: Nearly £700 pounds a year more on energy costs, that’s going to be a huge hit for many people. Shouldn’t the Government be doing even more for people with those bills that are coming down the line?
Boris Johnson: “So for people who are facing particular hardship, of course, we have – and for everybody – we have abatements, things we do to help with the cost of energy, cold weather payments, warm homes discounts, and so on. This is a mega package, a mega package of £9 billion on top, which is I think, you know, necessary, but it’s huge and that is there to help people with this particular spike that we’re seeing right now. What I hope and believe is eventually, as the world economy gets its momentum back, the inflationary pressures will start to subside.
“Vital thing you’ve got to do in order to help keep inflation under control is ease those problems in the supply chains, get people into work in the jobs where they’re needed, so that’s why we’re also doing our Way To Work programme, getting half-a-million people off welfare and into work to help ease the blockages in the UK economy, get things working more smoothly, and that is another way that you can get inflation under control.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to Blackpool Transport Depot
Reporter: Would you look again at the National Insurance rise given the scale of the price rises that families are going to be facing?
Boris Johnson: “You’ve got to remember, also, as we come out of Covid, our Covid recovery plan has got to involve dealing with the colossal backlog that we’ve got in our NHS.
“The NHS was amazing, and is amazing, and it’s dealt magnificently with the pandemic. But there are huge numbers of people, six million, one in 10 of the UK population currently waiting on an NHS waiting list.
“That’s going to go up, I’m afraid, it’s going to go up, we’ve got to put in the money to fix it and nine million more scans, 50,000 more nurses, building the hospital capacity that we need.
“It’s the number one priority of the British people and we’ve got to fund it. So I’m afraid … I know it’s not what anybody wants to do, it’s not what Rishi wants to do, it’s not what I want to do, but we’ve got to do it.”
Reporter: On Northern Ireland, the protocol, will you ensure that checks on goods are carried out, which is part of the international agreement that you agreed with?
Boris Johnson: “I hope that we can get … I know that Liz Truss is seeing Maros Sefcovic again, I think today, that’s great that the conversations are continuing.
“What we’ve got to do is get to a sensible solution that recognises that it’s crazy to have checks on goods that are basically circulating within the single market of the United Kingdom.
“What you could have, of course, is a commonsensical … practical steps to weed out, to check on things, that might be at risk of circulation, as they say in Brussels, are at risk of circulation in Ireland, as well as Northern Ireland.
“Now we can do that, but without having a full panoply of checks on the GB/NI coast and at the airport, and that’s the way forward. I think practical common sense is what’s needed.”
Reporter: Isn’t that going back though on what you agreed?
Boris Johnson: “Actually, if you look at the protocol, which I’m sure you have studied in detail, there’s plenty about uninterrupted east/west trade.”
Reporter: On your leadership, your Chancellor said today that parties in Downing Street damaged public trust in politicians. One of the people who put a letter in of no confidence said that they wanted the tone of debate not lowered, and yet you made an allegation in the Commons about Keir Starmer not prosecuting Jimmy Savile? Does that not bring the tone down? So why did you make that allegation?
Boris Johnson: “I want to be very clear about this, because a lot of people have got very hot under the collar, and I understand why. Let’s be absolutely clear, I’m talking not about the Leader of the Opposition’s personal record when he was DPP (director of public prosecutions), and I totally understand that he had nothing to do personally with those decisions.
“I was making a point about the … his responsibility for the organisation as a whole, and I think people can see that. And I just, I really do want to clarify that because it is … it is important.
“But on your wider point, you know, I think what people want is for us to focus on the issues that really matter for them. So look at – I’m not saying that other issues don’t matter – but above all, we’ve got to focus on cost of living, and on taking the country forward, and I think we can tackle both things together with our programme of support for people now, getting the Covid recovery plan really humming, getting people back into work and the British record on this, our country’s record on this, is absolutely amazing when you consider what we’ve been through.
“As the Chancellor was saying this morning, unemployment is far far lower than where it was predicted to be and we’ve got record low youth unemployment, what we need to do now is really turbocharge that and put in the measures through levelling up that are going to drive a long-term sustainable, high-wage, high-skill, jobs-led recovery. The point about levelling up – we think there’s talent everywhere, we want to unleash it.”
Reporter: On the issue of your character, the former chief of the defence staff said today people look at you and they’re not sure that they can trust you in terms of Ukraine and lots of foreign issues. That’s a problem, isn’t it?
Boris Johnson: “No, I think the UK has played a very important role so far in bringing together the West and making sure that our partners understand the severity of the threat that the Ukrainians face.
“And I think if you look at what we’ve been doing for the last two or three months, the UK has been way out in front in making sure that people respond. So we’ve been putting together the right package of economic sanctions, it’s got to be tough enough, and we’ve got to make sure that people understand it’s got to be automatic, so that there’s no … there’s no sort of argument, when, if and when, there is a Russian invasion, that those sanctions come in automatically.
“And as you know, we’ve changed the law so that the UK will apply sanctions both personally but also on any company of a strategic Russian interest. Number two, the UK has been out in front in supporting the Ukrainians through contribution of lethal defensive weaponry and that’s very important, we’re one of a handful of countries to do that, along with the United States, Lithuania, and that’s something that is greatly appreciated by Ukraine, helps to fortify their defence.
“But I think where the UK has possibly been most useful of all is in just trying to get over to the world what a tragedy it would be if such an invasion were to take place and a tragedy for Russia as well.”
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