During his speech in Dudley, in the West Midlands of England, the prime minister said: “We cannot continue to be prisoners of this crisis.

“I think it is absolutely vital for us to set out the plan ahead.”

Johnson set out plans to spend £1.5bn for hospital maintenance, eradicating mental health dormitories, enabling hospital building and improving A&E capacity.

He also pledged £100m for 29 road network projects including bridge repairs in Sandwell and improving the A15 in the Humber region and said there would be £83m for maintenance of prisons and youth offender facilities and £60m for temporary prison places.

The prime minister is laying out plans to support the economy following the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown, which the Bank of England estimated could result in the worst U.K. recession for 300 years.

Johnson vowed to “unleash the potential of the entire country” and continue with his “levelling up agenda” to ensure no part of the country felt left behind.

He said: “Too many parts of this country have felt left behind neglected, unloved, as though someone had taken a strategic decision that their fate did not matter as much as the metropolis.

“And so I want you to know that this government not only has a vision to change this country for the better we have a mission to unite and level up.”

As part of a “new deal” and what Johnson labelled yesterday as a ‘Rooseveltian’ spending boost to help the economy, he is also setting out plans to accelerate £5 billion on infrastructure projects.

The prime minister reiterated that there would be “no return to austerity” as the government spends billions during the lockdown, including £14 billion a month just on its job retention scheme, in order to prevent a massive rise in unemployment.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the economy shrank by 20.4 percent in April - the largest monthly fall on record.

Johnson has also outlined plans to spend £1 billion on rebuilding schools in England.

Meanwhile, Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds told BBC Breakfast that the Labour Party supported investment, but a “strong laser-like focus on unemployment” was needed.

She said that spending to improve prisons and courts had already been promised “quite some time ago.”

“What the prime minister is talking about appears to be mainly spending that’s already been committed to”, she said.