Bodge The Builder

Starmer brands PM’s New Deal a rehash of old policies. Unions: £5bn not enough to tackle crisis in economy

- Pippa Crerar

Keir Starmer last night branded Boris Johnson’s £5billion New Deal a rehashing of a manifesto pledge that will do little to stop a bonfire of jobs.

And the PM came under fire for trying to compare his actions to those of US President Franklin D Roosevelt, who led America out of the Great Depression in the 1930s with a mass employment drive.

Mr. Johnson, who had promised to “build, build, build”, yesterday warned Brits to get ready for the “thunderclap” of the economic fall-out from coronavirus.

But Mr. Starmer said the PM’s £5bn of infrastructure projects, ranging from roads to schools and hospital repairs, was nowhere near enough to tackle the looming crisis.

And TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady warned Mr. Johnson’s announcement was a “far cry from Roosevelt’s New Deal”.

As EasyJet became the latest firm to announce job losses, Mr. Starmer added: “Well, the Prime Minister promised a new deal, but there is not much that’s new and it’s not much of a deal.

“We are facing an economic crisis, the biggest we have seen in a generation, and the recovery needs to match that.

“What’s been announced amounts to less than £100 per person, it’s the announcement of many manifesto pledges and commitments. It’s not enough.