Good afternoon.
I have just been to see Her Majesty the Queen who has invited me to form a government, and I have accepted. I pay tribute to the fortitude and patience of my predecessor
Annotated by James Blitz Boris Johnson cannot bring himself to mention Theresa May by name here - or anywhere else in the speech. Brutal towards his predecessor. and her deep sense of public service, but in spite of all her efforts, it has become clear that there are pessimists at home and abroad who think after three years of indecision that this country has become a prisoner to the old arguments of 2016. And in this home of democracy, we are incapable of honouring a democratic mandate. And so I'm standing before you today to tell you, the British people, that those critics are wrong. The doubters, the doomsters, the gloomsters, they are going to get it wrong again.Annotated by James Blitz Early on Johnson establishes the populist tone of this speech. No previous prime minister has used this kind of brash language on entering Downing Street for the first time. We are a long way from Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and her words on St Francis of Assisi. The people who bet against Britain are going to lose their shirtsAnnotated by James Blitz Another remarkable phrase, almost seeming to imply he is prepared to prove financial markets wrong for selling the pound. because we're going to restore trust in our democracy and we are gonna fulfill the repeated promises of parliament to the people.
And we will come out of the EU on October the 31st no ifs or buts.Annotated by James Blitz Johnson has said this repeatedly in the leadership campaign. He now states it emphatically on the steps of Downing Street. If anyone was in any doubt, this now is a cast-iron deadline. And we will do a new deal, a better deal that will maximise the opportunities of Brexit while allowing us to develop a new and exciting partnership with the rest of Europe. Based on free trade and mutual support.
I have every confidence that in 99 days time we will have cracked it. But you know what? We aren't going to wait 99 days because the British people have had enough of waiting. The time has come to act, to take decisions, to give strong leadership and to change this country for the better. And though the Queen has just honoured me with this extraordinary office of state, my job is to serve you the people because if there's one point we politicians need to remember it is that the people are our bosses.
My job is to make your streets safer with another 20,000 police on the streetsAnnotated by James Blitz Expected to cost an extra £1.1bn a year, according to independent experts. A pledge that will go down well with the Tory right but raises questions about fiscal responsibility. and we start recruiting forthwith. My job is to make sure you don't have to wait three weeks to see your GP. And we start work this week with 20 new hospital upgrades and ensuring that the money for the NHS really does get to the front line. My job is to protect you or your parents or grandparents from the fear of having to sell your home to pay for the costs of care. And so, I am announcing now on the steps of Downing Street that we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all with a clear plan we have preparedAnnotated by James Blitz May’s government failed to make any progress on social care, one of the biggest public policy challenges facing the UK. But this is a political hot potato if ever there was one and it is hard to see Johnson making progress this side of an election. to give every older person the dignity and security they deserve. My job is to make sure your kids get a superb education wherever they are in the country, and that's why we have already announced that we're going to level up per-pupil funding in primary and secondary schools.Annotated by James Blitz This could cost an additional £3.5bn a year. Johnson aims to reverse cuts in per-pupil spending since 2015 and make sure they hold until 2022-23. and that is the work that begins immediately behind that black door.
And though I am today building a great team of men and women, I will take personal responsibility for the change I want to see. Never mind the backstop, the buck stops here.
And I will tell you something else about my job. It is to be prime minister of the whole United Kingdom, and that means uniting our country. Answering at last the plea of the forgotten people and the left-behind towns by physically and literally renewing the ties that bind us together,Annotated by James Blitz Johnson plays on the “one nation” theme that was at the heart of May’s speech on entering Downing Street in July 2016. Brexit meant she made little progress. that with safer streets and better education and fantastic new road and rail infrastructure and full fibre broadband.Annotated by James Blitz Johnson has said he wants full fibre broadband across the UK by 2025, eight years earlier than the May government was planning. Industry experts say this won’t be possible.
We level up across Britain with higher wages, higher living wage, higher productivity. We close the opportunity gap, giving millions of young people the chance to own their own homes and giving business the confidence to invest across the UK because it is time we unleashed the productive power, not just of London and the south-east, but of every corner of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The awesome foursomeAnnotated by James Blitz Johnson does not refer to the four nations as the “United Kingdom” but uses this jokey phrase. This will leave many wondering whether he is at all bothered by the existential threat that a no deal-Brexit could pose to the Union. that are incarnated in that red, white, and blue flag, who together are so much more than the sum of their parts and whose brands and political personality is admired and even loved around the world. For our inventiveness, for our humor, for our universities, our scientists, our armed forces, our diplomacy for the equalities on which we insist where the race or gender or LGBT or the right of every go in the world to 12 years of quality education, for the values we stand for around the world.
Everyone knows the values that flag represents. It stands for freedom and free speech and Habeas Corpus. In the rule of law and above all, it stands for democracy. And that is why we will come out of the EU on October 31st. Because in the end Brexit was a fundamental decision by the British people — that they wanted their laws made by people that they can elect and they can remove from office. And we must now respect that decision and create a new partnership with our European friends — as warm, as close and as affectionate as possible. And the first step is to repeat unequivocally our guarantee to the 3.2m EU nationals now living and working among us. Let's I say directly to you: Thank you. Thank you for your contribution to our society. Thank you for your patience. And I can assure you that under this government you will have the absolute certainty of the right to live and remain.Annotated by James Blitz The rights of the 3.2m EU nationals in the UK were guaranteed by the Withdrawal Agreement that May signed with Brussels. The problem is that Johnson only wants to guarantee the citizens’ rights aspect of the WA and not the rest of it, above all the backstop. This risks a no-deal Brexit in which EU citizens living in the UK will be left in limbo.
And I say next to our friends in Ireland and in Brussels and around the EU, I am convinced we can do a deal without checks at the Irish border because we refuse under any circumstances to have such checks and yet without that anti-democratic backstop the same problem existsAnnotated by James Blitz Nothing new here. The EU insists on an invisible border across Ireland. That means having a backstop until a comprehensive trade agreement establishes there is no need for one. In the event of no deal the UK will say it won’t impose border checks but the EU will be forced to defend the integrity of the single market.
And it is of course vital at the same time that we prepare for the remote possibilityAnnotated by James Blitz Johnson says no deal is “remote” here but later on he warms to the idea with a flourish on how well the UK will be prepared. that Brussels refuses any further to negotiate and we are forced to come out with no deal. Not because we want that outcome, of course not, but because it is only common sense to prepare. And let me stress that there is a vital sense in which those preparations cannot be wasted. And that is because under any circumstances, we will need to get ready, at some point in the near future, to come out of the EU customs union and out of regulatory control.
Fully determined, at last to take advantage of Brexit because that is the course on which this country is now set. With high hearts and growing confidence we will accelerate the work of getting ready and the ports will be ready and the banks will be ready and the factories will be ready and business will be ready and the hospitals will be ready and our amazing food and farming sector will be ready and waiting to continue selling evermore, not just here but around the world.Annotated by James Blitz This is troubling for those who worry about no-deal Brexit in October. Johnson seems to think that many aspects of the UK economy really can be ready for no deal. Most analysis suggests that business — especially SMEs — are very unprepared for such an eventuality.
And don't forget that in the event of a no deal outcome, we will have that extra lubrication of the 39bn poundsAnnotated by James Blitz Johnson has always said he would refuse to pay the £39bn Brexit divorce bill unless the EU offers better terms for a trade deal. This is bound to infuriate EU governments because it suggests that he would be prepared for the UK to renege on its liabilities after leaving the EU and whatever deal we do, we will prepare this autumn for an economic package to boost British business and to lengthen this country's lead as the number one destination in this continent for overseas investment.Annotated by James Blitz This is part of the “race to the bottom” economic policy which the EU fears will follow no deal. Johnson has talked about slashing corporation tax, for example.
And to all those who continue to prophesied disaster, I say yes, there will be difficulties though I believe that with energy and application, they will be far less serious than some have claimed. But if there is one thing that is really sapped the confidence of business over the last three years, it is not the decisions we have taken — it is our refusal to take decisions. And to those who say we cannot be ready, I say, do not underestimate this country. Do not underestimate our powers of organisation and our determination because we know the enormous strengths of this economy. In life sciences, in tech, in academia, in music, the arts, culture, financial services. It is here in Britain that we are using gene therapy for the first time to treat the most common form of blindness. Here in Britain that we are leading the world in battery technology that will help cut CO2 and tackle climate change and produce green jobs for the next generation.
And as we prepare for a post Brexit future, it is time we look not at the risks, but at the opportunities that are upon us. So let us begin work now to create free ports that will drive growth from thousands of high skilled jobs in left-behind areas.Let's start now.Annotated by James Blitz Freeports, which are possible in limited form under existing EU regulations, would lie outside the UK’s customs borders but within the country, allowing companies to import goods and process them without paying customs duties. Experts, however, say the idea was more likely to shift activity around the country rather than generate new business.
To liberate the UK’s extraordinary bioscience sector from anti genetic modification rules and let us develop the blight resistant crops that will feed the world. Let's get going now on our own position, navigation and timing, satellite and Earth observation systems.Annotated by James Blitz The UK has been cut out of the EU’s flagship Galileo satellite system. The idea that Britain could single-handedly deliver such a project without incurring huge cost is fanciful to many analysts. UK assets orbiting in space with all the long-term strategic and commercial benefits for this country. Let's change the tax rules to provide extra incentives to invest in capital and research. And let's promote the welfare of animals that has always been so close to the hearts of the British people. And yes, let's start now on those free trade deals because it is free trade that have done more than anything else to lift billions out of poverty. All this and more we can do now and only now at this extraordinary moment in our history, and after three years of unfounded self-doubt, it is time to change the record, to recover our natural and historic role as an enterprising, outward looking and truly global Britain, generous in temper and engaged with the world. No one in the last few centuries has succeeded in betting against the pluck and nerve and the ambition of this country. They will not succeed today.
We in this government will work flat-out to give this country the leadership it deserves, and that work begins now.
Thank you very much.
