Section:GDN 1N PaGe:7 Edition Date:190724 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 23/7/2019 20:18 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
Wednesday 24 July 2019 The Guardian •
7Boris Johnson will be the 20th prime
minister in Britain’s history to have
been educated at Eton College, and
the fi fth since the second world war.
The other four post-war PMs who
attended the fee-paying boarding
school were David Cameron (prime
minister from 2010-16), Alec
Douglas-Home (1963-64) , Harold
Macmillan (1957-63) and Anthony
Eden (1955-57). All were Tories.
One third of the UK’s 15 prime
ministers since 1945 have been Old
Etonians. Three other post-war
PMs went to independent schools:
Clement Attlee (Haileybury) ,
Winston Churchill (Harrow) , and
Tony Blair (Fettes).
The remainder, including Theresa
May, all went to grammar schools.
Eton College has a history of
producing prime ministers, back
to Robert Walpole in the early 18th
century, regarded as the fi rst prime
minister of Great Britain.
Other Eton-educated PMs include
William Pitt the Elder (prime
minister from 1766-68) , Arthur
Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
(twice prime minister in the fi rst
half of the 19th century) , William
Gladstone (four-times PM, from
1868 to 1894 ), and Arthur Balfour
(1902-05). Press AssociationLarry Elliott
Economics editorTaxes will be cut and public
spending increased if Boris Johnson
delivers on the pledges he made
while campaigning.
In a marked reversal of the fi scal
restraint of the past nine years,
Johnson has committed himself to a
multi billion-pound programme paid
for by extra government borrowing.
The plans will be fl eshed out in
the autumn budget and a possible
three-year Treasury spending
review, should the new chancellor
choose to have one this year.
Johnson’s proposals include:- Raising the threshold at which
income tax is paid at 40% from
£50,000 to £80,
Only 12% of people
in the UK earn more
than £50,000 a year,
so this pledge would
help those on the
highest incomes. Johnson believes,
however, that it will appeal to
aspirational voters. Some of the
giveaway would be clawed back
by higher national insurance
contributions (NICs) but the net cost
would still be £9bn a year , according
to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. - Increasing the starting point
for paying employee’s national
insurance contributions to £12,
At present people pay NICs when
they earn £166 a week and income
Spending plans
The cost of pledges so far
Trade Unions
and business
chiefs unite in
plea for a deal
Sean FarrellBusiness leaders and trade unions
greeted Boris Johnson’s election as
Tory leader by urging him to avoid a
disastrous no-deal Brexit.
The Confederation of British Indus-
try said he had to secure a Brexit deal
in his fi rst 100 days as prime minister.
Johnson has pledged to leave the EU
without a deal if he cannot secure an
agreement by the 31 October deadline.
Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI direc-
tor general, said: “On Brexit, the new
prime minister must not underesti-
mate the benefi ts of a good deal. It
will unlock new investment and con-
fi dence in factories and boardrooms
across the country.”
There were no major moves in the
currency markets on the news. The
pound, which has been under pressure
as the handover to Johnson neared, fell
slightly against the dollar at $1.244 and
edged up against the euro at €1.116.
Sterling has lost 15% of its value sincetax when they earn
£12,500. Johnson
wants to align the two
systems by raising the
NICs threshold to an
annual £12,500. This would cost
£11bn a year and take 2.4 million
people out of paying NICs altogether,
but would still off er most benefi ts to
those on higher earnings.- Raise education spending to
£5,000 for every secondary school
pupil and £4,000 for each primary
school pupil
Johnson says he will
reverse the cuts in per
pupil spending seen
since 2015 and ensure
that it holds steady
until 2022-3 during a period when
the number of children in school
will be rising. The bill for reversing
the cuts is £3.5bn. Holding per pupil
funding steady until the projected
end of the parliament will cost a
further £1.1bn. - Employing an additional 20,
police offi cers
Any pledge to be tough
on law and order tends
to go down well with
the Conservative party
faithful and Johnson
wooed them during the leadership
race with a recruitment policy that
will cost £1.1bn a year. - Free TV licences for the over 75s
In a deal struck in 2015, George
Osborne handed to the BBC the
the 2016 EU referendum, and last week
hit a 27-month low against the US dol-
lar at $1.238 as fears intensifi ed about a
no-deal Brexit under Johnson.
Paul Dales, the chief UK economist
at the consultancy Capital Economics,
said that if Johnson did not soften his
stance when faced with the reality of
Brexit , the pound might fall further.
“The fi rst three months of Boris
Johnson’s tenure as prime minister
will be turbulent,” he said. “How he
deals with Brexit will probably deter-
mine whether or not he gets a second
three months.”
Frances O’Grady, the general sec-
retary of the Trades Union Congress
(TUC), said working people already
aff ected by spending cuts, low pay and
falling living standards could not bear
the impact of leaving the EU without
a deal. “Even to threaten it [no deal]
shows a reckless disregard for jobs,
rights and livelihoods, and for peace
in Northern Ireland. No prime min-
ister who truly cared about unitingPolitical reaction
What they said
“Boris Johnson has won
the support of fewer than
100,000 unrepresentative
Conservative party
members by promising
tax cuts for the richest,
presenting himself as the
bankers’ best friend, and
pushing for a damaging
no-deal Brexit. But he
hasn’t won the support
of our country.”
Jeremy Corbyn, Labour leader
“Congratulations –
BorisJohnson! You have
said very clearly that
you are determined to
do a deal with Brussels
- and you will have my
wholehearted support in
doing so. Good luck!”
Philip Hammond, chancellor
“Many congratulations to
being elected leader of the
Conservatives – we now
need to work together to
deliver a Brexit that works
for the whole UK and to
keep Jeremy Corbyn out
of government. You will
have my full support .”
Theresa May, outgoing PM
“The Conservative party
has just thrown the UK out
of the frying pan and into
the fi re. During the most
serious political crisis in
decades, a clown is set to
become prime minister.
But this is no joke .”
Liz Saville Roberts MP, Plaid Cymru
“Brexit of any kind [is]
deeply damaging to
Scotland and the rest of
the UK, but his pledge to
leave by 31 October ‘do or
die’ ... [ignores] common
sense or basic regard for
the wellbeing of the UK .”
Nicola Sturg eon, SNP leader
fi nancial responsibility
for providing free TV
licences , in return for
extra funding for the
corporation. The BBC
has said it intends to means-test this
benefi t so that only those on pension
credit get their TV licences paid
for. Johnson has said he will ensure
the decision is reversed, at a cost of
£250m a year.- Raising the level at which stamp
duty is levied
There have been
reports that the
incoming prime
minister would like
all house sales under
£500,000 to be exempt from stamp
duty. The IFS says stamp duty
on housing transactions below
£500,000 raised £3.8bn in 2017-
but it would expect the full cost to
be slightly higher because some
properties above £500,000 would
be lowered beneath the threshold to
avoid the tax. - Nationwide superfast broadband
coverage by 2025
Johnson has said he
wants the UK to have
a complete full-fi bre
broadband network
by 2025, eight years
earlier than the current government
is planning. Industry experts say this
is not feasible in the time available,
given coverage is currently less than
10%, and the cost of the pledge is
unknown. - The creation of six free ports in
the UK
Johnson said while on the hustings
with Jeremy Hunt that he intended
to create “about six” free ports.
These are zones designated to
pay little or no tax in
an attempt to boost
economic activity. He
has given no further
details of this pledge.
The cost would depend on: whether
the benefi ts of the extra growth
exceeded the lost tax revenue;
the size and location of the free
ports; the terms under which they
operated , and whether the boost
to activity in one area came at the
expense of a neighbouring region
outside the zone.- Review HS2 and build HS
So far £4bn has
been spent on HS2 ,
the high-speed rail
project designed to
link London to cities
in the Midlands and the north of
England. But the projected fi nal
cost has already risen from £32bn
to £56bn and reports suggest it has
now jumped to between £70bn
and £85bn. One of Johnson’s big
early decisions will be whether to
scrap HS2 and spend the money on
alternative rail infrastructure such
as linking the big northern English
cities through HS3. Any savings
generated by scrapping HS2 will
almost certainly be re cycled into
other transport projects. - Raising the national living wage
The government
employs one in six
workers in the UK so it
would be aff ected by
Johnson’s promise to
raise the national living wage , which
is £8.21 an hour for those 25 and over.
But as yet Britain’s next PM has not
put a fi gure on the increase he has in
mind or even whether it should rise
by more than infl ation, so the cost of
this pledge is also unknown.
and rebuilding Britain would take
that step.”
In March, the CBI and TUC jointly
warned of a national emergency if
Britain leaves the EU without a deal.
During his campaign for the Tory lead-
ership, Johnson said Britain would
leave on Halloween “do or die” , rais-
ing fears of a chaotic departure.
The ratings agency Moody’s warned
yesterday that Johnson’s election had
increased the chance of a no-deal
Brexit. Leaving the EU without a
deal would have “signifi cant nega-
tive credit eff ects” for Britain’s debt,
Moody’s said.
Adam Marshall, the director general
of the British Chambers of Commerce,
said Johnson had to get to grips with
the detail of Brexit fast. “Companies
need to know, in concrete terms, what
your government will do to avoid a
messy, disorderly Brexit ... which
would bring pain to communities
across the UK and disruption to our
trade around the world.”
Financial fi rms also said Johnson
must move swiftly. International
banks based in London are already
moving jobs and business out of the
UK to EU countries in preparation
for Brexit.
The Institute of Directors (IoD) and
Federation of Small Businesses (FSB)
said a no-deal Brexit would be bad for
their members and distract further
from measures needed to help busi-
ness after years of uncertainty caused
by Brexit.Eton alumni in No 10 again
School for prime ministersCost
£9bnCost
£11bnCost
£1.1bnCost
£250mCost
£4.6bnCost
£3.8bnCost
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Unknown▲ Frances O’Grady, head of the TUC,
criticised ‘reckless disregard for jobs’Nicola Sturgeon: no-deal
ignores wellbeing of UKРЕЛИЗ ПОДГОТОВИЛА ГРУППА "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS