UK: Johnson to present stimulus package to support post-Covid economy

Text by: Muriel Delcroix Follow

The Prime Minister will unveil a vast stimulus package this week to support the economy of the UK hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Boris Johnson will detail his plan in a speech on Tuesday, but the leader and his ministers have already warned that the country will not return to the austerity of the previous decade.

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From our correspondent in London,

Hardly criticized for weeks for his management of the epidemic when the country is the most mourning in Europe, Boris Johnson will try this week to regain control.

The Prime Minister is under pressure from his party and the Labor opposition, whose new leader Keir Starmer has just overtaken him in a recent opinion poll.

In a long interview with the tabloid Mail on Sunday , the Prime Minister assured that the United Kingdom would "  rebound  ". And to better impress, the Prime Minister was photographed doing pumps in his office in Downing street history to show that he was "  in great shape  " despite the apparent aftereffects of the virus he contracted in April.

No way, hammered the leader, to return to the austerity of 10 years ago, and to avoid this he will launch a working group nicknamed "Project speed".

At the helm, Economy Minister Rishi Sunak will be responsible for speeding up the construction of schools, hospitals, roads and even prisons across the country.

What Boris Johnson does not say, however, is how he intends to finance these investments when his government has already spent billions to support the British economy during the pandemic.

► Also listen: Coronavirus and Brexit: a fatal cocktail for the British economy?

Containment has already resulted in a record collapse of more than 20% of gross domestic product and the unemployment rate threatens to exceed 3 million as in the 1980s.

We want to build our way back to health. If Covid was a lightning flash, we're about to have the thunderclap of the economic consequences.

We're going to be ready.

Read my full interview with The Mail on Sunday here: https://t.co/DX9tIURqKI pic.twitter.com/y0mUpgCJru

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• United Kingdom
• Boris Johnson
• Economy
• Economic crisis

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