Union leaders said Johnson had no mandate.
Trade union leaders have called on Boris Johnson to call a general election and for him to keep his campaign promises.
Commenting on Johnson’s selection as prime minister, PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said:
“Boris Johnson has no mandate to be Prime Minister. His record of pursuing policies that are wedded to big business and a series of racist comments, make him unsuitable to lead the country. With a chaotic no-deal Brexit on the horizon, we need a general election to sort out this mess.”
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said:
“Boris Johnson has spent the past few months talking up a no-deal Brexit that would be catastrophic for public services. But after a decade of austerity, those services can’t afford the shock that crashing out of Europe without a deal would cause.
“Every single one of us must now hold Johnson to his promises – especially the infamous £350 million a week for the NHS. The time for talk is over, our beleaguered public services – particularly social care – demand serious and urgent attention.
“Prime ministers should be elected by the whole country, not an out of touch few. If Boris Johnson really believes he’s ready to lead the country, he should call a general election.
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary of the National Education Union, said that Johnson should reform the schools system:
“Much was made in the Conservative Party leadership election of the need for more school funding. Boris Johnson made it his second pledge in the TV debate.”
“The new Prime Minister now needs to act to implement a programme of funding that will actually make a difference to schools and colleges and addresses the years of underfunding and ensures teachers’ pay rises are fully funded.”
“Schools need more than promises on the side of a bus. Schools need real money for real children in real schools now. The NEU, with the f40 local authorities group, ASCL and NAHT, has published a complete assessment of the extra funding needed to reverse the cuts made in recent years.
“We are proposing an immediate increase of £3bn in order to restore half of the £5.9bn current funding loss, followed by a 3.5% real-terms increase every year for the next six years.”
“The teacher recruitment and retention crisis is also a fundamental problem of the Government’s own making. A huge driving factor, aside from schools not having the money to employ all the educational professionals they need and the reduced real terms salary levels, is workload.”
“The long hours worked into the evening and weekends is made up of largely unnecessary bureaucratic accountability and assessment exercises driven by Government policy and high stakes Ofsted inspections. While some steps have been taken to address this, they do not go nearly far enough.”
“If the new Prime Minister does not act effectively and swiftly on these issues the education our children and young people receive will continue to be undermined.”
3 Responses to “Unions call for election and for Johnson to keep his promises”
Patrick Newman
When Mrs May was acclaimed as Leader of the Tory Party in July 2016, she could go to the Queen confident that she had a governable majority. Her position was self-evident.
This will not be the case when Boris Johnson seeks the appointment by the Queen and in fact, during the leadership election campaign, it became increasingly obvious that Johnson could not rely on all Tory M.P.’s to support him as prime minister. His majority even with the DUP is in serious doubt.
The question is: is it the duty of the Queen as Head of State to challenge Johnson to prove he can form a viable stable government? Is it conceivable that the Queen’s decision to appoint Johnson as a matter of routine challengeable through the Supreme Court? Could the Queen impose a condition – that Johnson wins a vote of confidence before she appoints him and Mrs May continues as provisional PM until that vote is passed?
Dave Roberts
Neuman.
Shut up and read Dicey and Mount on the constitution. You are thick.
Patrick Newman
Roberts – do provide a link. Google does not compute.