Will the rhetoric of Boris Johnson’s New Year’s Project Positive message match the reality? – inews

NewsPoliticsIt may take more than positive thinking and a change in calendars to improve the economy, personal finances, health and sense of unity

Wednesday, 1st January 2020, 11:46 am

Boris Johnsons New Year message was brimming with optimism as he said the country could now turn the page on division, rancour and uncertainty which has dominated public life and held us back for far too long.

From his Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, there was a similar message to start the New Year. In an article for conservativehome.com, Mr Hancock said the coming decade holds great promise in the treatment of illness, through technology and social prescribing.

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But given Brexit will happen at the end of this month, heralding an uncertain period for the economy and society, can the upbeat messages really match the reality of what lies ahead?

People are more optimistic than a year ago

A YouGov poll for The Times seems to suggest that the public are feeling generally more optimistic about their financial prospects in the coming year than they were last year - although a majority still feel they could worsen.

It is all relative: 20 per cent expect an improvement in prospects, up from 13 per cent a year ago, while 27 per cent are gloomy about their own finances, a figure which has, nevertheless, fallen from 40 per cent last year.

The survey found 24 per cent believed the economy was in good shape, compared with 18 per cent a year earlier while 34 per cent believed it was doing badly, down from 41 per cent.

Yet it is going to take more than just positive thinking and a change in calendars to improve the nation's economy, personal finances, health and sense of unity.

When Britain leaves the European Union on 31 January, there will still be uncertainty over the countrys future trading arrangements with both the EU and the rest of the world.

Warnings of recession

Post-Brexit Britain could mean an improvement for the nations finances, or it could spell trouble - particularly because there have been warnings of recession for other major economies at the start of this decade.

Nobody really knows how the UK economy will fare after Brexit, as no major country has left the EU before.

On health, Mr Hancock admitted in his article that great challenges as well as incredible promise lies ahead. He is right to say that harnessing new technology in the NHS will transform lives - including genome sequencing, which will be able to identify future health conditions at birth, focusing on preventative medicine which could in turn save the NHS billions.

The Health Secretary also placed great focus on new research in tackling dementia, one of the underlying drivers in the social care crisis that is only deepening as the population gradually ages.

Yet, despite the optimistic messages on health and social care, the fact remains that the NHS, according to experts, needs more money than has been pledged even in this supposed post-austerity era.

It is also the case that a long-term plan for tackling social care - not just focusing on future treatment for dementia or short-term funding boosts - has not been published by the government.

And given the period of division over Brexit and austerity that the country has just been through in the past decade, it is all too easy for the Prime Minister to say that a page can be turned, as if the change of a date can bring an end to societys troubles and political argument.

Mr Johnson may have overcome some disunity in Parliament with his 80-seat majority, but Scottish independence is back on the agenda after the SNPs landslide at the election, and the rest of the country may feel it needs to see more evidence that Project Positive can translate into reality.

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Will the rhetoric of Boris Johnson's New Year's Project Positive message match the reality? - inews