One year ago, the government was elected to get Brexit done and unleash Britain's potential. Since then, it has been getting on and delivering the promises it was elected on.
Despite the pandemic, the government has achieved a number of manifesto commitments in twelve months:
- fulfilled its promise to the British people and Got Brexit Done on January 31st 2020;
- passed the new Immigration Act which ends free movement at the end of the year and replaces it with a fairer Australian style points-based immigration system, meaning the UK now has full control of our immigration system for the first time in decades;
- recruited 14,800 more nurses and over 6,250 more doctors in the last year as part of the commitmentt to deliver 50,000 additional nurses to ensure our NHS can continue to provide first rate care for all who need it. In addition, the government is investing an additional £33.9bn in frontline NHS services every year by 2023-24 - the largest and longest funding settlement in the history of the NHS;
- started work to build 40 new hospitals while 20 hospitals will receive a share of £850 million to upgrade outdated facilities & equipment;
- giving the police £1.1bn to kickstart the recruitment of 20,000 extra police officers, the first 5,824 of which have already been hired to keep our streets and communities safe;
- increasing the schools budget budget by £2.6 billion in 2020-21, £4.8 billion in 2021-22 and £7.1 billion in 2022-23, compared to 2019-2. From this acadmic year the government has increased funding to a minimum of £5,000 per secondary school pupil;
- investing record amounts in infrastructure – triple the average over the last 40 years – to build the railways and roads of the future across the UK;
- committed a £3.6 billion Towns Fund and £4 billion Levelling Up Fund to ensure prosperity and opportunities are available to everyone, not just those in London or our biggest cities - making a real difference to communities around the country;
- helping people with the cost of living by increasing the National Living Wage to record levels to end low pay;
- giving our nation's defences its largest boost in 30 years with an extra £24 billion pledged towards our national security - creating thousands of jobs across the UK.
Recognising this list of achievements, Richard commented: "Despite Covid, it is vital we get on and do these things for the long-term prospects of our country and continue to deliver on what we promised a year ago.
"When last year’s election result was announced no one would have expected a year like 2020. The pandemic has generated unprecedented challenges and requires an unprecedented response from everyone. But this government will double-down on the pledges we were elected on, to build a better country for everyone in order to come back stronger from the consequences of the pandemic."
As well as delivering on its manifesto commitments, the government is protecting lives and livelihoods through the pandemic by building the largest testing capacity in Europe, with 40 million tests conducted so far and over half a million tests now available every day across the UK; ensuring that as we head into winter, the NHS has at its disposal over 30,000 ventilators and billions of items of Personal Protective Equipment, most of it now manufactured here in the UK and putting in place an unprecedented package of economic support worth over £200 billion, protecting the wages and jobs of millions of people and making sure the vulnerable have the help they need.
