Covid-19: Boris Johnson prepares for UK revival

Audio 04:01

By: Pauline Gleize Follow

The Prime Minister is due to announce on Tuesday his economic recovery program hit by the Covid-19 epidemic. A policy which he promises to be "Rooseveltian" in reference to the American president Franklin D. Roosevelt who, in the 1930s, had implemented his New Deal to bring the United States out of the crisis.

Publicity

Boris Johnson seeks to reassure those who have a bitter memory of the post-2008 crisis. The British Prime Minister has promised that he will not go back to the austerity policy put in place by David Cameron. He prefers to bet on public investments and plans to double those already planned while continuing to help households and businesses.

Some broad outlines have been drawn. The program provides infrastructure projects for £ 5 billion. On the menu: the reconstruction of fifty schools for a billion pounds. The acceleration of a series of projects should also be announced, including the construction of hospitals, housing, roads and railways, infrastructure for broadband.

Prison box

The recovery also goes through the prison box. Several new incarceration centers will emerge with a double stated objective: to reduce crime and create thousands of jobs.

Investments that will further increase public debt, which has exceeded 100% of GDP, a first since 1963. This surge is linked to the collapse of activity and the aid paid by the State to overcome this period. 133 billion pounds (145 billion euros) have already been injected in an emergency. And succeeding in the recovery is essential for Boris Johnson. Very criticized for its management of the health crisis, it is the popularity of its government in the polls that it must also rebound. But, the task is immense. The Covid-19 epidemic slashed British GDP, which collapsed by more than 20% in April, a record! For 2020, the Bank of England expected a 14% drop in May, to be followed by a strong rebound in 2021 (+ 15%). A month later, the IMF was more optimistic for this year with an expected fall of 10.2% of UK GDP but more pessimistic for the future considering only a 6.3% rebound.

Prospective job cuts

Concretely, according to the ONS, the national statistical agency, 12.5 million people suffered financially from the Covid-19 epidemic and the measures taken to stem it.

The increase in the number of people registered for unemployment benefits rose from 1.2 million in March to 2.8 in May, according to the House of Commons library. This does not necessarily mean that they have all lost their jobs. Some may still be employed but have seen their income melt.

For the moment, the ONS has not announced an unemployment rate which is skyrocketing. However, plans to cut posts are increasing: the Royal Mail; the airline Easyjet; more than 6,000 job cuts were already announced in the automotive sector in June. In total, one in six jobs could disappear in the sector according to SMMT, the association of the British automobile industry. Professionals are asking for several measures such as access to emergency funding, flexibility in work and tax breaks.

And this bleeding could only be at its beginning. Richard Lim, managing director of the research firm Retail Economics, believes that in the distribution sector, many companies could start to lay off workers when the partial unemployment measures start to be abolished at the end of August.

From "New deal" to the risk of "No deal"

Added to this is the uncertainty over the future of relations with the European Union. London and Brussels have until the end of the year to agree, otherwise January 1, 2021 will be the WTO rules that will apply with their lots of high customs duties and controls pushed.

The two parties initiated, on Monday, June 29, a five-week marathon of negotiations. Boris Johnson wants to be fixed by the end of July on the possibility of a compromise. However, discussions made little progress during the health crisis and Europeans are more focused on their plan to revive the economy. Michel Barnier, the European Brexit negotiator, instead fixes the moment of truth in October.

A Brexit without agreement would be a heavy blow for certain British sectors like the automobile which exports a lot. The SMMT ensures that after the Covid, the sector has neither the capacity nor the time to prepare for a new shock.

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• United Kingdom
• Boris Johnson
• Coronavirus
• Brexit