London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

PM vows to close 'opportunity gap' after Brexit

Delivering Brexit would help the UK close the "opportunity gap between rich and poor", Boris Johnson has said.

In his first big speech of the election campaign, he promised to boost regional industry and drive a "clean energy revolution" after the UK leaves the EU.

He said a future Tory government would double investment in high-tech research and development to £18bn.

But earlier former Tory David Gauke said Mr Johnson's plan will lead to a "bad outcome for the country".

And Labour said Mr Johnson's Brexit deal was flawed and another referendum was needed.

Speaking during a visit to an electric taxi manufacturer near Coventry, the PM set out his vision for post-Brexit Britain, saying his goal was to unite the country and "level up" economic performance by boosting the regions.

He said the UK must be at the heart of the world's "green revolution", harnessing the power of science, innovation and technology to tackle climate change and create high-skilled, high wage jobs.

A Tory victory on 12 December would see the UK leave the EU in January, he said, and that would be good for the country's "politics, economy and psychological health" after months of paralysis.

"We must get Brexit done because we are democrats," he said, saying while Leave voters wanted the result of the 2016 referendum result to be respected, Remain voters also accepted the "wrangling had to end".

But he departed from excerpts of the speech briefed to the media on Tuesday, leaving out references to Brexit "groundhoggery" and claims that calls for another Brexit referendum and a further vote on Scottish independence were a form of "onanism", or masturbation.

Asked about this at a press conference after the speech, he blamed it on a "stray draft" of the speech released to the media.

The Tory leader said the UK's economic fundamentals were sound, but he compared the country to a "cup-winning horse trying to run on three legs" with huge untapped potential and often "vastly different" educational outcomes.

"If every child had the same start and the same encouragement, think of the all untapped talent in this country," he said.

"Yet the solution to that inequality is within our grasp... not just to close the opportunity gap between rich and poor but also between the regions of this country."

He promised to make the "small improvements in life that people are craving" by addressing transport bottlenecks, improving rural bus services and broadband connections. He also said British apprentices must be employed on all "big new public sector" contracts after Brexit.

To demonstrate his party's support for enterprise, he said a future Tory government would double funding for research and development to £18bn in the next Parliament, which would amount to the "biggest ever increase in support for R&D".

"We proudly back businesses across this country because they are creating the wealth that actually pays for the NHS and everything else."

A Labour victory, he claimed, would lead to a "Technicolor coalition" with the SNP, prolonging the uncertainty for business over Brexit and the future of the UK.

The PM is facing claims from a former cabinet colleague that his election would lead to a "very hard Brexit" after Mr Gauke attacked the policy of the Conservatives to not extend the implementation period for Brexit past December 2020.

The Tories plan to negotiate a free trade agreement with the European Union during that time, but have pledged to leave without one if no deal is reached by the deadline.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage cited the pledge as one of the reasons for his decision not to stand candidates in the 317 seats won by the Tories at the last general election, in 2017.

Mr Gauke said "one simply cannot renegotiate a trade deal in that time period", and leaving without a deal would be "disastrous for the prosperity of our country… [making] whole sectors unviable".

But Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, said his former colleague was "wrong".

He defended the progress the prime minister has made on Brexit, telling BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "People throughout the summer said that Boris Johnson would not be able to secure a deal with the EU.

"The withdrawal agreement will never be reopened, they said. The backstop is unviable, you won't get it changed.

"They are people who have been left with oeuf on their faces because he succeeded in securing that deal in defiance of the sceptics and the cynics, and we can secure a free trade agreement by the end of 2020."

MPs backed Mr Johnson's Brexit deal in principle before Parliament was dissolved. But they refused to endorse his timetable to rush it through in days, meaning the PM had to abandon his "do or die" pledge to take the UK out by the 31 October deadline.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×