It was a wonderful lift for the nation’s spirits on Easter Sunday to see our Prime Minister well enough to leave hospital. While fighting a battle for our country against the Conoravirus pandemic, Boris ended up having to fight his own very personal battle with his life in the balance. Had he not survived, as well as the obvious personal tragedy, it would have been a tragedy for our country at the very moment we need strong and effective leadership.
This leadership we need is not just for the short term. While the public health crisis will get better, it will take longer to get our country up and running and our economy to get back to full strength. The challenges ahead are unprecedented but with positivity and the right leadership, we will meet them.
Dealing with the public health emergency is seeing a national effort not seen in peacetime. The parallel economic disruption also requires an incredible effort and I believe we have the right leadership with Boris Johnson at the helm to steer our economy back to strength.
Our local economy is strongly affected by Gatwick and it could be quite some time before air travel returns to the previous level, which will have a knock-on effect to local supporting and supply-line companies, as well as directly for those who work at the airport. While government support for workers and business is strong, we must ensure that in local government we play our part too, in being pro-jobs and pro-business at every opportunity.
Crawley will bounce back and the more we all play our part in following the current government restrictions, the sooner that will be. I know it's hard and can have unintended consequences but compared to the incredible effort our health and care workers are having to make, our staying at home is not too much to ask. We have a daily grim reminder as to why this is necessary when we hear the latest statistics of lives lost. While leadership at the top of our country is vital, we all need to lead by example.
Councillor Duncan Crow, Leader of Crawley Borough Council Conservative Group
15th April 2020