Boris Johnson is to visit the north-east of England as part of an election victory lap, meeting Conservative MPs who ousted Labour rivals from their seats in former “red wall” heartlands.
The prime minister hailed his “stonking mandate” after he secured an 80-seat majority in Thursday’s election, with many Tory gains in areas across the north of England and the Midlands, including Bishop Auckland which had never elected a Tory MP before.
Speaking outside No 10 on Friday, Johnson said he would “work round the clock” to repay the trust of those who had voted Conservative for the first time.
His comments were later echoed by Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, who said the government planned to redirect investment towards those communities that felt they were not being heard.
“We are very grateful to these traditional Labour voters, in many cases, for lending us their support on this occasion, perhaps because of Brexit,” Jenrick told BBC’s Newsnight on Friday. “We need to earn that trust now and hopefully we will have five years ahead of us to do that.”
Before the prime minister’s visit on Saturday, Paul Nowak, the deputy general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said that if Johnson wanted to retain the support of voters in the Midlands and north-east he needed to stand by promises to engage with the issues that motivated them.
Nowak urged Johnson to “put your money where your mouth is, engage with the unions, engage with working people” to get a Brexit deal that protected workers’ rights.
“You know, there are some contradictions in the prime minister’s position,” Nowak told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “He said, I think, before the election that he wants to protect and enhance employment rights, but if you look at that withdrawal bill, it delivers none of those protections.
“I think the government needs to now widen the conversation to include businesses, to include trade unions, to think about what this future relationship looks like.
“And I think our message clearly to Boris Johnson would be to put people before politics, to deliver a Brexit deal that does protect jobs and employment rights, and I think that means getting a right deal not just a quick deal. And I think it does mean standing by the commitments he’s made to those voters in the north-east and in the Midlands who may have voted for the first time.”
He added: “A deal that threatens jobs and people’s employment isn’t a deal that we can live with.”
