Article 58TZ4 UK coronavirus live: Johnson says Covid can provide chance to 'learn and improve' as he sets out vision for 2030

UK coronavirus live: Johnson says Covid can provide chance to 'learn and improve' as he sets out vision for 2030

by
Andrew Sparrow
from on (#58TZ4)

Prime minister addresses Tory party conference while Scottish cabinet considers Covid-19 circuit break' lockdown

12.34pm BST

In Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister, is giving her coronvirus briefing now.

She said the Scottish cabinet discussed further restrictions this morning, but did not take any final decisions. She said there would be another meeting tomorrow, and she would then make a statement to the Scottish parliament about any new rules.

12.21pm BST

Boris Johnson's speech was light on policy but heavy on vision - although it was not a particularly novel vision, and the passages about private enterprise being the foundation for prosperity were very similar to the speeches he's been making at Conservative conferences for years.

One of the most interesting passages, though, came when he spoke about his desire to use the coronavirus crisis as a catalyst for change. In doing so, he identified Churchill's wartime coalition government as a model. He said:

In the depths of the second world war, when just about everything had gone wrong, the government sketched out a vision of the postwar new Jerusalem that they wanted to build, and that is what we're doing now, in the teeth of this pandemic.

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