Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a site visit to England, June 30, 2020. - Jeremy Selwyn / AP / SIPA

"Build, build, build". It is the new slogan of Boris Johnson to revive the British economy, hit hard by the coronavirus crisis. To present his "New Deal" in British sauce, the British Prime Minister went on Tuesday to the Speller Metcalfe site at the Dudley Institute of Technology in Dudley, England.

Boris Johnson says 'build, build, build' as he visits Dudley and the site of the new Institute of Technologies for @Dudley_College which is being built by Speller Metcalfe https://t.co/67AujpLVLW

- Speller Metcalfe (@SpellerMetcalfe) June 30, 2020

The head of the Conservative government has promised an “infrastructure revolution” when he announced a plan of five billion pounds (5.5 billion euros) of investments in major works, in particular via construction and renovation of schools, hospitals and roads, without going into more detail.

"It sounds like a New Deal (...) because that is what the times demanded: a powerful and determined government that puts its protective arms around the people in times of crisis," he said in reference to the policy launched by Franklin D. Roosevelt after the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Reconfiguration measures

But, while the British debt has already exceeded 100% of gross domestic product during this crisis, the question of its financing remains unresolved. Especially since in accordance with his promises, Boris Johnson refused any return to austerity, saying that "the world has changed since 2008". "I am not a communist but I think it is also the job of the government to create the conditions necessary for a market economy," he said.

This announcement comes at a time when the health crisis is experiencing a resurgence in this country where the Covid-19 has killed more than 43,000 people. Containment measures in Leicester and its surroundings, in an area representing more than 600,000 inhabitants, have just been announced by the government.

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