Prime Minister's speech dismissed as 'vomit' in scathing attack by Jamie Stone
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THE plan set out by Boris Johnson for the UK's economic recovery in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic has been condemned as "vomit" by north MP Jamie Stone.
He lashed out after the Prime Minister said there would be a £5 billion "new deal" to build homes and infrastructure and promised investment for new academy schools, green buses and broadband.
Mr Stone, the Liberal Democrat MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, was scathing about what he called a "Trump-esque campaign speech".
He said: "We are all desperate for hope. We need reassuring that our country has the leadership it needs to help our economy recover. The Prime Minister's speech gave no such reassurance.
"Instead of committing to a salary review for key workers, Mr Johnson suggested we clap for 'our wealth creators, our capitalists, our financiers'.
"I want a Prime Minister that understands the struggle most people are going through right now. I want a Prime Minister that can give a detailed plan, not just a Trump-esque campaign speech.
"We need detailed action plans, not rhetoric. Today's speech entailed no details, no actual plan, just word vomit. We all deserve so much better that."
In his speech Mr Johnson said now is the time to be ambitious about the UK's future and pledged £5 billion to build homes and infrastructure projects. He insisted his response would not be a return to the austerity that followed the financial crisis of 2008.
The Prime Minister said he was inspired by US president Franklin D Roosevelt, who led America out of the Great Depression with his New Deal in the 1930s. Following the Wall Street Crash of 1929, President Roosevelt launched one of the largest US government public spending programmes which included building schools, hospitals and dams.
But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Mr Johnson of not doing enough to save jobs and claimed there is "not much of a deal and not much that's new" in the plan.
