Liz Truss wants to create model villages in UK based on Bournville

Liz Truss, the favourite to replace Boris Johnson as the UK’s next Prime Minister, has said she is aiming to create model villages across the country similar to Bournville in Birmingham.

Best known for being the home of Cadbury’s chocolate, the picturesque Birmingham town is seen as a model village, largely due to the Bournville Village Trust.

The trust, which was founded in 1900 by world famous chocolate-maker George Cadbury, has a design guide which residents are expected to follow. Those who live in the town, employees, are expected to maintain their homes to a certain standard, and if you live within the trust’s management scheme, locals also have to pay a charge to the group. The guide is in place to help sustain the town’s idyllic atmosphere.

In her column for The Telegraph, Truss unveiled a plan to create investment zones across the country ‘in the spitit of historic towns like Bournville’.

What exactly did Liz Truss say?

She wrote: “I will be unashamedly pro-business in driving investment up and down our United Kingdom. We will go further to galvanise investment in hard-working people and brilliant British businesses by strengthening current freeports.

“Whitehall will not be picking winners and losers under my watch. Instead, we will liberate freeports to maximise our opportunity post-Brexit to lead the world in key industries such as AI, quantum and hydrogen power. These full-fat freeports will be world-class engines of growth.

“I am unveiling a plan for new investment zones across the country, which are at the heart of my vision for levelling up in a Conservative way. We will work with local communities to identify sites ripe for transformation across the country through lower taxes, reduced planning restrictions and red tape.

“These zones would open the floodgates to new waves of investment. They will become new hubs for innovation and enterprise in the spirit of historic towns like Bournville and Saltaire. I will be unashamedly pro-business in driving investment up and down our United Kingdom. We will go further to galvanise investment in hard-working people and brilliant British businesses by strengthening current freeports.

“I will do things differently and be bold so we become a high growth, high productivity powerhouse. We will go further to galvanise investment in hard-working people and brilliant British businesses by strengthening current freeports.”

Truss ahead in Tory leadership race

Truss is currently ahead of Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership race to replace Boris Johnson as Prime Minister - according to a new poll.

A YouGov poll of 730 Conservative Party members - taken on Wednesday (20 July) evening and Thursday (21 July) morning - found that the current Foreign Secretary would beat the former Chancellor by 62% to 38%. This marks a 24 percentage point lead for the South West Norfolk MP, which is up from a 20 percentage point lead two days prior.

As things stand, 31% of the membership intend to vote for Mr Sunak, while 49% intend to vote for Ms Truss. A further 15% are undecided, and 6% currently said they will abstain. YouGov explained that, after those who are unsure or plan to abstain are excluded, this puts the voting intention at 62% for the Foreign Secretary and 38% for the former Chancellor.

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