Coronavirus: Johnson sets out 'ambitious' economic recovery plan - BBC News
Boris Johnson vows a "new deal" for UK after coronavirus - but Labour says saving jobs is top priority.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Boris Johnson says Britain must "build, build, build" to bounce back from the coronavirus crisis

Boris Johnson has said now is the time to be "ambitious" about the UK's future, as he set out a post-coronavirus recovery plan.

The PM vowed to "use this moment" to fix longstanding economic problems and promised a £5bn "new deal" to build homes and infrastructure.

Plans set out in the Tory election manifesto would be speeded up and "intensified," he added.

Labour and the CBI said he was not focusing enough on saving jobs.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said there was "not much of a deal and not much that's new".

The BBC's economic editor, Faisal Islam, said there was "nothing really new" in the plans, but was a pledge from the Treasury to "speed up capital investment that has already been announced and tolerate higher levels of debt".

Chancellor Rishi Sunak later confirmed he would deliver an economic update on 8 July "setting out the next stage in our plan to secure the recovery".

The PM's speech came as new figures showed the UK economy shrank faster than at any time since 1979 between January and March.

In a wide-ranging speech in Dudley, in the West Midlands, Mr Johnson vowed to "build, build, build" to soften the "economic aftershock" of coronavirus.

He said the government wanted to continue with its plans to "level up" - one of its main slogans of last December's election - as "too many parts" of the country had been "left behind, neglected, unloved".

Infrastructure projects in England would be "accelerated" and there would be investment in new academy schools, green buses and new broadband, the PM added.

Other projects announced in the government's Spring Budget, which will now be accelerated, include:

Mr Johnson acknowledged jobs might be lost because of the economic hit from the pandemic, but said a new "opportunity guarantee" would ensure every young person had the chance of an apprenticeship or placement.

Asked whether the plans went far enough for those who end up unemployed, the PM said the strategy was for "jobs, jobs, jobs" and there would not be a return to austerity.

But he could not put a figure on how many roles would be created through his plan, adding: "We don't yet know what the full economic impact is going to be... [but] we will do everything we can to get this economy moving."

He is a keen student of Winston Churchill - and has even written a book about him.

Over the last few days, the comparisons the government has sought to draw have been with former American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his "New Deal."

As my colleagues at Reality Check point out, the plan set out today is a tiddler compared to what FDR did, and a fair chunk of it is re-announcing what we already knew the government was planning.

But Boris Johnson is attempting to set out in a broader context the government's vision - and his pride in saying he wants to spend a lot to revitalise the economy and haul it out of the doldrums.

Under what Mr Johnson dubbed "project speed," planning laws would also be streamlined to encourage building.

Pubs, libraries, village shops will be protected from the changes as they were "essential to the lifeblood of communities," the government said.

Mr Johnson acknowledged the planning changes might meet resistance in traditional Tory-voting areas, but said: "Sometimes you have got to get on with things."

The government believes their existing plans for boosting infrastructure spending are already a significant fillip to the economy, and they want to see what happens as it re-opens.

One set of figures released today shows household savings increased during lockdown, but will people have the confidence to spend?

The scale of government support for businesses and employees in recent months probably does justify New Deal-style rhetoric. Extending support at that level may yet be required, and is far from ruled out.

But for now, they are holding fire as they assess the permanent scars to the UK economy.

Mr Johnson also attempted to calm Tory fears that he had shifted to the left, saying: "I am not a communist".

Instead, he claimed he had been inspired by US president Franklin D Roosevelt, who led America out of the Great Depression with his New Deal in the 1930s.

In the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929, President Roosevelt launched one of the largest, most expensive US government programmes which included building schools, hospitals and dams.

Youth Worker Lisa Williams is worried young people will be hit hard

In the former "red wall" seat of Rother Valley - which the Conservatives won from Labour for the first time at last year's general election - there has been a mixed reaction to the announcement from employees and business owners.

David Shaw, operations manager for a manufacturing company, said the investment announcement was "positive" and praised the government's furlough scheme during the crisis for saving businesses.

But Lisa Williams, manager of a youth and community centre in Dinnington, said of the promised investment that "we've yet to see that happen".

"Year-on-year, successive governments have made promises, and these areas have yet to see that," she said, adding she was concerned about the economic impact on young people.

And Jayne Maxwell, a shop owner in Maltby, said she was sceptical about how much investment would go into high streets, saying more short-term help was needed.

Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer said: "We're facing an economic crisis, the biggest we've seen in a generation and the recovery needs to match that. What's been announced amounts to less than £100 per person.

"And it's the re-announcement of many manifesto pledges and commitments, so it's not enough."

Sir Keir Starmer says more focus is needed on jobs

The Labour leader added: "We're not going to argue against a recovery plan, but the focus has to be on jobs."

CBI Director General Carolyn Fairbairn said the prime minister had set out the "first steps on the path to recovery" but added that "the focus on rescuing viable firms cannot slip".