‘Difficult’ process ahead, says PM

BORIS Johnson said he would unleash the “unique spirit” of the country as he set out on the “difficult” process of reshaping the British economy.

The Prime Minister used his Conservative Party conference speech to say he has the “guts” to reshape society, addressing issues which had been dodged by previous administrations.

With shortages of lorry drivers and other workers hitting supply chains, leading to empty shelves and queues at petrol stations, Mr Johnson defended his strategy of restricting the supply of cheap foreign labour after Brexit.

And despite a looming National Insurance rise for millions of workers in April to fund a £12 billion annual investment in health and social care, Mr Johnson insisted his new approach would ultimately create a “low-tax economy”.

“That’s the direction in which the country is going now – towards a high-wage, highskilled, high-productivity and, yes, thereby a low-tax economy. That is what the people of this country need and deserve.

“Yes, it will take time, and sometimes it will be difficult, but that is the change that people voted for in 2016.”

Setting out the need for the health tax hike, Mr Johnson said: “We have a huge hole in the public finances, we spent £407 billion on Covid support and our debt now stands at over £2 trillion, and waiting lists will almost certainly go up before they come down.

“Covid pushed out the great bow wave of cases and people did not or could not seek help, and that wave is now coming back – a tide of anxiety washing into every A&E and every GP.

“Your hip replacement, your mother’s surgery ... and this is the priority of the British people.”

The rising tax burden has caused concern among the Tories, but Mr Johnson told activists in Manchester: “I can tell you – Margaret Thatcher would not have ignored the meteorite that has just crashed through the public finances.

“She would have wagged her finger and said: ‘More borrowing now is just higher interest rates, and even higher taxes later.”’

The 44-minute keynote address came as the Government implemented its £20-a-week cut in universal credit as the temporary uplift in the benefit over the pandemic ended.

Mr Johnson used his speech, which was largely devoid of major policy announcements, to spell out what his “levelling-up” agenda means.

“The idea in a nutshell is you will find talent, genius, care, imagination and enthusiasm everywhere in this country, all of them evenly distributed – but opportunity is not,” said Mr Johnson.

“Our mission as Conservatives is to promote opportunity with every tool we have.”

He promised a “levelling-up premium” of up to £3,000 to get “the best maths and science teachers to the places that need them most”.