British stimulus package: Johnson’s little New Deal

With a speech about a “New Deal” for the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson is trying to, from the corona-related to get a Defensive back on the Offensive. In the face of high expectations, the reactions were, however, subdued, the measures announced, including 5 billion pounds (5.5 billion euros) for infrastructure projects, hospitals and schools, were largely known in advance.

Philip Plickert

economic correspondent based in London.

F. A. Z.

The speech in Dudley, was meant as encouragement-occurs after the country is “awake out of the hibernation” of the Corona-crisis, so Johnson. Aware was the site of Dudley, a small city selected in the Midlands, as a sign that the government is the suspended middle and Northern English regions, more attention. Johnson praised several large-scale projects such as the fast train link HS2 from London to the North, as well as new highways and roads.

Between London and the North of the country, there is a prosperity gap. “The gap between the Best and the Rest” is huge, so Johnson. To close the largest failure in decades is. There is a highly productive company and global outstanding universities, but overall the country is not productive enough. Johnson praised the spirit of innovation of British companies extolling the benefits of the health service, the NHS. In addition, the speech contained little of substance, only the promise of red tape reduction, more efficient management and easier approval procedures for construction projects.

The state deficit controls on the 270 billion pounds

the “Build, build, build” is Johnson’s formula for Overcoming the crisis. That is by no means to the end, shows a new outbreak in Leicester, an hour’s drive from Dudley station. The city must back in a Lockdown, while the Rest of England, the re-opening of Pubs, Restaurants and other facilities on the Saturday looking forward to. In Scotland, the government still hesitates.

Split were the reactions to Johnson’s speech. The Union Confederation, the TUC, the opposition Labour party is close to party, complained that the announcements were “far removed from the New Deal of Roosevelt”. The American President had introduced during the world economic crisis, a highly interventionist program with job-creation measures and state targets for the economy. Economics Professor Philip Booth, from the liberal Institute of Economic Affairs warned explicitly against the imitation of such a “New Deal”.