U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson may reconsider cutting several female ministers from his cabinet and could name Britain's first female attorney general as he carries out a significant overhaul of the government following the December election victory, according to newspaper reports.
Johnson, whose Conservative Party won an overall majority that helped push through Britain's exit from the European Union last month, has been considering axing five female ministers yet may now change his mind, while he's also preparing to appoint Lucy Frazer as attorney general, according to a Times report. Andrea Leadsom, named as one of the ministers under threat, warned of the dangers of “male-dominated” workplaces in a column for the Daily Telegraph.
The prime minister is attempting to move on from the paralysis that Brexit imposed on British politics for the past three years and has promised to spend tens of billions of pounds more on the National Health Service, teachers and cutting crime while signing new trade deals overseas. Johnson may use legislation later this year to exert more control over the NHS, the Times reported, while Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid is considering a tax raid on higher-income earners when he unveils his budget next month, according to the Financial Times.
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The government will soon decide on whether to proceed with a costly high-speed rail line connecting London to cities in the north of England. While the project has been hampered by delays and soaring costs, the government is under pressure to invest in the north, traditionally a heartland for the opposition Labour Party that turned to the Tories in December.
The London terminus for the HS2 project, which has been hampered by delays, is so far behind schedule that the state-owned company in charge of delivering it should be stripped of its duties, according to a Financial Times report today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Donal Griffin in London at dgriffin10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ambereen Choudhury at achoudhury@bloomberg.net, James Amott, Michael Hunter
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