Boris Johnson has seemingly remembered that he is leading a Conservative government, with his new chief of staff claiming that the Tories now aim to restore a ‘smaller state’.
After overseeing one of the biggest intrusions into the personal lives of Britons during the Chinese coronavirus crisis, the restoration of a ‘smaller state’ is now a reported aim of the Tory Party government, with Boris Johnson apparently remembering that he is not a left-leaning Green Party MP but rather the head of the British Conservative Party.
The move comes as the Prime Minister — who is now polling at a dismal net approval of negative 34 per cent — is under pressure to pull back on an “unconservative” ban on fracking as the price of energy in Britain spirals skyward.
According to a comment piece published in The Telegraph, the UK government’s new chief of staff, Steve Barclay, said that returning to a smaller state is now a government priority.
“Now, it is a priority to restore a smaller state – both financially and in taking a step back from people’s lives,” Barclay wrote in the publication.
“It’s time to return to a more enabling approach,” he continued. “To trust the people, return power to communities, and free up business to deliver.”
“Now that Covid is in retreat, the Prime Minister is committed to trusting the people and freeing up business to deliver,” the Chief of Staff also noted.
While the Johnson government is now promising on rolling back the nanny-statism, its previous track record leaves a lot of room for doubt on behalf of the British public.
Johnson’s government has seen taxes hiked to a 70 year high, with the government currently eyeing up further increases on the likes of payroll tax to help pay for the countries extreme measures previously put in place against the Chinese Coronavirus.
The poorly-polling PM has also previously taken a very hands-on approach with issues like obesity, pushing through a swathe of regulations in the hopes of making Britons “happier and fitter and more resistant to diseases like COVID”.
Meanwhile, an EU ban on menthol cigarettes was transposed into UK law, despite the country having left the European bloc, prompting fears that a full-scale ban on tobacco products may be in store for Britain in the future.
Barclay also noted that the Conservative Party government was committed to fighting to tackle the rising price of energy in Britain, which has begun to spiral out of control.
Despite the chief of staff’s claim, an “unconservative” ban on fracking implemented by the Tories remains in place, with one energy company recently being ordered to shut two of England’s only viable fracking gas wells.
However, more and more people from within Johnson’s own party have called on the prime minister to relax the rules.
“If our economy is to boom after Brexit, British industry needs a competitive and reliable source of energy which we hold in our own hands and brings investment into this country,” said Johnson’s former Brexit Negotiator, Lord David Frost. “Shale gas production achieves all this and more.”
“If we don’t produce it here, as we have seen, all we do is import gas from elsewhere, and push up overall carbon emissions too,” he continued. “So let’s reverse the moratorium on shale gas and let a British energy renaissance begin.”
Yet, a source close to the PM — who previously called on the British public to avoid the “doom merchants” regarding domestic fracking — said that the moratorium was unlikely to be lifted.
“The Prime Minister himself has made clear it is not something we will be reversing,” said one source, who cited the “unpredictable and unmanageable” risks the technology posed to local communities.
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