Interview
Boris Johnson: "They Were Looking at Engineering the Virus” & “The Government Tried To Bribe Me!"
- Predicts the UK will ultimately become richer due to Brexit and regulatory freedom, while anticipating temporary economic struggles and lower wealth in the near term compared to a non-Brexit scenario.
- Forecasts that post-Brexit trade bureaucracy will decrease over time and disputes claims that the UK economy is £300 billion smaller by 2035, acknowledging the Office for Budget Responsibility's estimate of a 4% long-term deficit.
- Expects the economy to recover faster than other G7 nations and outperform Germany and Italy since 2016, attributing this to earlier lockdown exits and vaccination rates reaching 45% of adults and nearly 100% of over-80s by March 2021.
- Plans to "turbocharge" education to create a positive feedback loop where school quality attracts parents, and advocates for "leveling up" infrastructure projects like HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail to counter geographic inequality.
- Identifies risks where remaining aligned with the EU as a "rules taker" would result in a "huge, huge mistake" and chronic bad growth, contrasting this with the potential of a "positive feedback loop" in skills and regional opportunity.
- Notes historical economic data showing 620,000 more paid employees and a 50-year low in unemployment at the end of his premiership, while acknowledging London's murder rate was halved during his mayoralty.
- Addresses pandemic uncertainties, stating it is impossible to gauge the exact efficacy of lockdowns versus natural viral progression or how many lives might have been saved by earlier restrictions, while asserting the pandemic would have followed a natural parabola regardless.
- Warns against the "European Empire of Law" becoming ever denser, arguing that freedom is essential to avoid the constraints that the speaker claims have held back UK growth potential compared to other major European economies.