7:58 a.m. ET, October 14, 2019
Boris Johnson says Britain is "tired of gridlock"
Boris Johnson has pledged to "get this amazing country of ours moving again," in his statement on the Queen's Speech.
“People are tired of stasis, gridlock and waiting for change” on issues such as healthcare, crime and education, Johnson writes in the statement, which has just been published by Downing Street.
But he also refers to the elephant in the chamber -- Brexit. “They don’t want to wait any longer to get Brexit done and to answer that clarion call of 17.4 million people in the greatest exercise of democracy in our national history,” Johnson wrote.
The prime minister’s comments echo those he has made on several occasions in recent months -- but in order to secure Britain’s exit from the EU, he will need help from a Parliament in which he lacks a majority.
In that regard, Johnson is dealing with the same set of constraints Theresa May tried and failed to overcome -- and he even takes a phrase out of his predecessor’s lexicon, stressing that Brexit will help Britain “take back control of our borders, our money, and our laws.”
“We are going to get the gears on our national gearbox working away,” Johnson says, calling Brexit a “defining opportunity for us to set a new course and a new direction for our country” and indicating legislation on Britain’s trade, fishing and immigration policies.