Prime Minister is set to put border control, the NHS and investment in the North at heart of his plans for government
- Boris Johnson will welcome 109 new Tory MPs to Westminster tomorrow
- Key new policies include £100billion Northern infrastructure fund, £34billion extra funding for the NHS and greater schools funding
- Home Office could be split in to with new department focussing on borders
- Will also complete minor reshuffle to fill Culture and Wales Secretary vacancies
- Huge shake-up set for February, with up to a third of existing ministers culled
Boris Johnson will put control of Britain’s borders, improvements to the NHS and spending in the North at the centre of a Government shake-up designed to ensure years more of Conservative rule.
The Prime Minister will welcome 109 new Tory MPs to Westminster today with a message that addressing voters’ concerns now could see the Tories win a record fifth term in 2024 – and rule throughout the 2020s.
He will carry out a minor reshuffle today to fill gaps left by the departures of former culture secretary Nicky Morgan and former Welsh secretary Alun Cairns.
But he is already planning a more radical shake-up in February, which could see up to a third of existing ministers culled and a major overhaul of the Whitehall machine.
Boris Johnson will put control of Britain’s borders, improvements to the NHS and spending in the North at the centre of a Government shake-up designed to ensure years more of Conservative rule
Tory sources said last night the PM is considering splitting up the Home Office to create a new Department for Borders and Immigration to deliver on his pledge to cut the number of low-skilled migrants coming here.
The new department will focus on putting in place an Australian-style points-based immigration system and toughening up the UK’s borders – leaving the Home Office to focus on the fight against crime.
Mr Johnson will also use a £100billion infrastructure fund to reward voters in the Midlands and the North who voted Conservative for the first time.
His strategy of ‘Boosterism’ will involve pumping cash into neglected regions in an attempt to increase opportunity.
The Prime Minister will welcome 109 new Tory MPs to Westminster today with a message that addressing voters’ concerns now could see the Tories win a record fifth term in 2024 - having just won the largest Conservative majority since 1987
Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds joined Chancellor Sajid Javid to celebrate his birthday, which was during the general election campaign
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
In a message to supporters yesterday, he said: ‘Let’s unite this country, let’s spread opportunity to every corner of the UK, with superb education, superb infrastructure and technology. Let’s get this done and move forward.’
On Thursday, he will unveil his Queen’s Speech which will legislate to deliver an extra £34billion funding for the NHS.
His programme will also include a framework for the immigration system, together with new laws to increase the amount that migrants pay to use the NHS.
Other measures will include longer sentences for terrorists and serious criminals, laws to limit the impact of strikes in the public sector and measures to end no-fault evictions for renters – addressing day-to-day concerns of voters.
Commuters using Northern Rail and South West Trains have been hit by damaging strikes this year. A new Minimum Service Agreement Bill would force unions to guarantee a certain level of services – probably 50 per cent – to reduce the impact on commuters. Speaking ahead of the PM’s meeting with new Tory MPs, a No 10 source said: ‘The seismic events on Thursday returned Conservative MPs in Bolsover, in Blyth and in Bishop Auckland to name but a few.
He will carry out a minor reshuffle today to fill gaps left by the departures of former culture secretary Nicky Morgan and former Welsh secretary Alun Cairns
‘This election and the new generation of MPs that have resulted from Labour towns turning blue will help change our politics for the better.
‘The PM has been very clear that we have a responsibility to deliver a better future for our country and that we must repay the public’s trust by getting Brexit done.
‘Our job is to serve the people of this country, and the “People’s Government” will deliver on the people’s priorities.’
The fast start to Mr Johnson’s new administration came as:
- Treasury Chief Secretary Rishi Sunak confirmed Britain would now leave the EU ‘within weeks’, with Michael Gove ruling out any extension to the Brexit transition;
- Ministers confirmed that the Government will press ahead with plans to decriminalise failing to pay the BBC licence fee, as well as boycotting the corporation’s flagship Radio 4 Today programme in protest at its election coverage;
- Labour descended into bitter infighting, with former minister Caroline Flint claiming the Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry told a northern MP: ‘I’m glad my constituents aren’t as stupid as yours’;
- Nicola Sturgeon warned Scotland ‘cannot be imprisoned in the UK’, as Mr Gove confirmed the Government would not sanction a second independence referendum;
- Mr Johnson was considering handing a peerage to environment minister Zac Goldsmith to enable him to keep his job, days after he was booted out by voters in his London constituency;
- The Prime Minister was drawing up plans to appoint a new Climate Change Secretary to the Cabinet next year to deliver on his pledge to make Britain ‘the greenest country on Earth’;
- Government sources said a report on Russian interference in British politics would be published next month, and;
- Jeremy Corbyn’s allies threw their weight behind business spokesman Rebecca Long-Bailey to succeed him, as he claimed that Labour ‘won the argument’ in the election.
Newly-elected Tory MPs were last night heading to Westminster for the first day of a Government which Conservative strategists hope could last ten years.
Mr Sunak told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show that the Government’s focus was on delivering Brexit and then ‘levelling up across the United Kingdom, making sure that opportunity is spread’.
Treasury Chief Secretary Rishi Sunak confirmed Britain would now leave the EU ‘within weeks’, with Michael Gove ruling out any extension to the Brexit transition
Mr Gove told Sky News: ‘We need to make sure that economic opportunity is more equally spread across the whole country and we need to invest in the infrastructure and also the improvement for skills and education necessary in order to make sure that opportunity is more equal.’
New Bishop Auckland MP Dehenna Davison, Stockton South MP Matt Vickers, Darlington MP Peter Gibson, Sedgefield MP Paul Howell and Redcar MP Jacob Young dubbed themselves ‘the Blue Wall’ as they caught the train down to London together from the North East.
Just days after Mr Johnson’s historic landslide, Tory strategists already have their eye on the next election. A senior source said: ‘The first six to 12 months are key. People have got real expectations of change and we have got to show we are delivering it.
All eyes today are on who Mr Johnson appoints as culture secretary, with a remit to shake up the BBC. Former culture secretary John Whittingdale (pictured) is under consideration
‘People need to feel this first term has worked for them, they need to be able to point to things locally that have changed, they need to feel that their lives have got better – otherwise they will not vote for us again. That is not easy and we need to refocus the whole of government to do it.
‘A lot of people are putting their faith in us for the first time and we sure as hell have to make sure we don’t let them down.’
MPs will be sworn in over the next two days ahead of the Queen’s Speech which will be dominated by meeting Mr Johnson’s election pledges. The new programme will also include amendments to the Human Rights Act to prevent ‘vexatious claims’ against British troops, and a new Sentencing Bill to introduce a mandatory minimum 14-year term for adults convicted of serious terrorist offences.
Measures will also be brought forward to guarantee greater funding for schools. And there will be an end to automatic early release for serious violent offenders.
All eyes today are on who Mr Johnson appoints as culture secretary, with a remit to shake up the BBC. Former culture secretary John Whittingdale is under consideration, but Mr Johnson is also under pressure to bring new blood into his top team. Mr Sunak has also been tipped as a possible candidate, as has defence minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan.
Cabinet Office minister Simon Hart is tipped for possible promotion as Welsh Secretary.
Gove: We’ll be fully out of EU next year ... with no delays
Britain will be fully out of the European Union next year, Michael Gove said yesterday – as he ruled out any extension to the Brexit transition period.
Legislation to take Britain out of the EU will be brought back to Parliament on Friday, with MPs asked to back it in principle before Christmas.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Rishi Sunak said the UK ‘will leave the European Union in a matter of weeks’ in the wake of Boris Johnson’s election victory.
The UK will then enter an 11-month ‘implementation period’ during which EU rules will continue to apply while negotiations on a future trade deal take place.
Britain will be fully out of the European Union next year, Michael Gove said yesterday – as he ruled out any extension to the Brexit transition period
The Prime Minister’s deal leaves open the possibility of extending the transition period for up to two years to allow more time for trade talks. A decision on whether or not to seek an extension has to be taken by the summer.
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said last week it was ‘unrealistic’ to expect a trade deal to be finalised by the end of next year. But Mr Gove yesterday told Sky News that there was no need to extend the implementation period as trade talks could be completed on time.
‘It will be concluded next year,’ he said. ‘We will be in a position to leave the European Union before January 31 next year and we will have concluded our conversations with the EU about the new framework of free trade and friendly co-operation that we will have with them by the end of next year.’
In matching blue, Tories who smashed Red Wall
Grinning for the camera in matching scarves, they look like fans off to the football. But these five were in fact on the train to Westminster – as newly-elected Conservative MPs.
The selfie was shared online by 26-year-old Dehenna Davison, a reality TV star who became Bishop Auckland’s first Tory MP in the constituency’s 134-year history.
She helped to smash the Red Wall of Labour-held seats in the party’s North East heartland along with Matt Vickers, Peter Gibson, Paul Howell and the appropriately named Jacob Young, who like Miss Davison is also 26. ‘Couldn’t be happier to be sharing my journey to Westminster with these four amazing lads,’ she tweeted yesterday, adding: ‘Can’t wait to get to work.’
Miss Davison was just 13 when her father was killed by a single punch to the head in a pub. She went on to study politics at Hull University, spending a year as an assistant to Jacob Rees-Mogg.
She appeared in a Channel 4 series, Bride and Prejudice, about her marriage to an older man but is now believed to be separated from John Fareham, 61, a Tory councillor in Hull.
He added: ‘The speed and effectiveness with which the Prime Minister negotiated or renegotiated the withdrawal agreement I think demonstrates his determination, our Government’s determination to ensure that we not just leave the European Union by January 31 but we also conclude the remaining arrangements by the end of 2020.’ Mr Gove was appointed last summer to take charge of No Deal planning, which will now be scaled back.
Tory sources said he was likely to head up a beefed-up trade and industry department which will play a leading role in negotiating the new trade deal with Brussels.
Mr Gove yesterday played down the difficulty involved – pointing out that, unlike in normal trade deals, the two markets have very similar interests.
He added: ‘Quite a lot of the detail that needs to be negotiated is already laid out in the political declaration so a lot of work has been done and, as a number of people have pointed out, there are areas where the European Union’s interests and the United Kingdom’s interests are already closely aligned. So I am confident that we will be able not just to leave the EU on January 31 but also to conclude all the details of a new relationship in short order.’
Tory sources said the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which enshrines Mr Johnson’s Brexit deal in law, is likely to have a second reading in the Commons on Friday to ensure there is time to push through the remaining stages before Britain leaves the EU on January 31.
But the process may not run as smoothly as the Government predicts as Nicola Sturgeon declared yesterday that she will not allow Scotland to be ‘imprisoned’ in the United Kingdom against its will.
The SNP leader said her party’s success in the General Election has given her a mandate to hold another. She said Scotland had chosen a ‘very different kind of future to the rest of the UK’. The First Minister told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show she had spoken to the Mr Johnson on Friday where he reiterated his opposition to Scottish independence.
She said: ‘I don’t presume that everybody who voted SNP on Thursday is yet prepared to back independence. But it’s not for me to decide that question, it’s not for Boris Johnson to decide that question, it’s for the people of Scotland to decide that question.’
She added: ‘If he thinks saying “no” is the end of the matter then he’s going to find himself completely and utterly wrong.’
Climate change battle to be led by new minister
Boris Johnson is to create a new Whitehall department to tackle climate change as part of his post-election shake-up.
He will reverse Theresa May’s 2016 decision to fold the Department for Energy and Climate Change into the Department for Business after vowing to make Britain the ‘greenest country on Earth’.
The Prime Minister will carry out a limited reshuffle today to fill gaps left by the election.
Mr Johnson will reverse Theresa May’s 2016 decision to fold the Department for Energy and Climate Change into the Department for Business after vowing to make Britain the ‘greenest country on Earth’
The new Government lacks a Culture Secretary after Nicky Morgan decided not to stand, and a Welsh Secretary following the departure of Alun Cairns. Environment minister Zac Goldsmith lost his seat and must be replaced.
A wider reshuffle, involving the scrapping or merging of some departments, is expected after Britain leaves the EU next month.
Michael Gove could be installed as the head of a new trade ‘super-department’ to oversee Britain’s future relationship with the EU. It would incorporate the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for International Trade and the Department for Exiting the EU.
Mr Johnson could also axe the Department for International Development and hand control of Britain’s £14billion aid budget to a beefed up Foreign Office.
The plan to create a new department to tackle climate change comes after Mr Johnson pledged to make the country carbon neutral by 2050.
He promised ‘colossal new investments in infrastructure, in science, using our incredible technological advantages to make this country the cleanest, greenest on Earth with the most far-reaching environmental programme’.
Ministers tipped for promotion include Sajid Javid’s deputy at the Treasury, Rishi Sunak. But Trade Secretary Liz Truss and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace are under pressure. Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg may get a lesser role.
