x
Greg Evans
Jul 27, 2019
Boris Johnson has given his first major speech as prime minister about his future plans for the UK, which included mentions of 'buses' and 'electric planes'.
Speaking at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, Johnson gave a typically rambling speech about how he intends to improve the transport links in the north of England.
His biggest pledge was to fund a high-speed rail link between Leeds and Manchester, which was greeted with a muted response, forcing Johnson to encourage the audience to applaud.
However, this promise hasn't been received entirely well, as London's unfinished Crossrail has already proven to be a lengthy and costly project, with some lamenting that the money could be spent elsewhere.
Boris: “I want to be PM who does for Northern Powerhouse Rail what Crossrail did for London”, says funding commitme… https://t.co/KBsNJFkeZO— David Collins (@David Collins) 1564223492
Getting from Leeds to Manchester 15 minutes quicker is really important, says country full of starving children— The Rochdale Herald (@The Rochdale Herald) 1564223096
Absolutely no one needs this. Absolutely everyone needs more carriages and better service on the two Leeds to Manc… https://t.co/MiyFNCWNtL— Porl Cooper (@Porl Cooper) 1564224380
Johnson then went onto to talk about buses (yes, buses again). The PM said that he would improve the local bus services, where he mentioned that he 'invented a bus'.
I'm going to improve local services, with your help, that are used every day and I want that to start now with improvements that can happen in the short term and that means buses.
I know a lot about buses, believe me. I love buses, I helped to invent a new type of bus. I will begin in urgency, the transformation of local bus services here today in Manchester.
The 'invented bus' is probably the London Routemasters, which he introduced when he was London mayor but came under scrutiny after it was discovered that the windows couldn't be opened.
Johnson boast about the buses didn't exactly go down too well on Twitter.
“I know a lot about buses... I helped to invent a new kind of bus.” Boris Johnson invented a new London bus that c… https://t.co/oFA7onBqGt— Miriam Mirwitch (@Miriam Mirwitch) 1564223720
Is bojo talking about the buses he said that were so good during his speech in Manchester that he invented, the ver… https://t.co/bx0LvvYn4q— nolonger in use account (@nolonger in use account) 1564223822
Johnson then went on to talk about planes, electric planes in fact, which is something that he spoke about during his first address to the Commons on Thursday.
There will be a dawn of a new age of electric vehicles, not just cars or bicycles but electric planes.
Electric planes. It's happening already. Made possible with battery technology being developed now in the UK.
Electric planes do exist but they aren't exactly commonplace so this pledged raised a few eyebrows both today and on Thursday.
Just turned on @BorisJohnson’s speech to hear him talk about electric planes.— Tobias Forrest (@Tobias Forrest) 1564223959
Did Boris Johnson just promise electric planes in his speech ? #anyoneasparecharger— Stephen Bambrick (@Stephen Bambrick) 1564051083
Johnson then rounded of his speech by talking about the iconic train Stephenson's Rocket and asked his audience if they remembered what happened when locomotive travel was first introduced in 1829. The answer is no as nobody who was around in 1829 is still alive.
Talking about Brexit, Boris Johnson says that in 1829 there were "doubters and naysayers and sceptics" in the time… https://t.co/BaksB8Fsiv— Rob Powell (@Rob Powell) 1564225856
Keep reading...Show less
Top 100
The Conversation (0)