PM: I’ve got the guts to make us a high-wage country
Johnson to reject return to ‘uncontrolled immigration’ as he ‘tackles problems his predecessors ignored’
BORIS JOHNSON will today pledge to make Britain a “high-wage” economy as he declares he has the “guts” to tackle problems his predecessors ignored.
Amid speculation that a minimumwage increase is coming this month, the Prime Minister will reject using “uncontrolled immigration” to fill labour shortages and keep wages down.
In the speech closing the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, Mr Johnson will also argue that his “levelling up” agenda benefits everyone, including Tory seats in the South East.
His comments come after days of sniping from ministers at companies over a lack of HGV drivers which has led to fuel and food shortages, with blame laid on the failure to attract more workers with decent conditions and pay.
In his first speech to an in-person party conference for two years, Mr Johnson will say: “We are not going back to the same old broken model with low wages, low growth, low skills and low productivity, all of it enabled and assisted by uncontrolled immigration.
“And the answer … is not to reach for the same old lever of uncontrolled migration to keep wages low.
“The answer is to control immigration, to allow people of talent to come to this country but not to use immigration as an excuse for failure to invest in people, in skills and in the equipment or machinery they need to do their jobs.
He will add: “That is the direction in which this country is going – towards a high-wage, high-skill, high-productivity economy that the people of this country need and deserve, in which everyone can take pride in their work and the quality of their work.” Mr Johnson did not rule out increasing the national minimum wage during a round of interviews yesterday, though Downing Street sources said no announcement would be made in the speech.
The Low Pay Commission will deliver its report later this month on potential changes to the bands of national minimum wage, in time for the Budget on Oct 27. Chancellors have repeatedly accepted their recommendations, meaning that Rishi Sunak is expected to approve at least some increase.
The national living wage – which applies to people aged over 23 – is currently £8.91. It is expected to rise above £9 from next April and potentially above £10 by 2024. Sir Keir Starmer came under pressure to back a £15 minimum wage at the Labour Party conference last week.
However, The Daily Telegraph understands that there is deep discomfort from some around the Cabinet table about the threat of inflation. There are concerns that a rise in prices could become a long-term inflation problem if businesses start factoring it into wages.
A central theme of Mr Johnson’s speech today will also be his “levelling up” agenda, stressing its importance and spelling out what it means.
For months there have been concerns that the Prime Minister’s push to retain the “Red Wall” seats in Labour’s traditional Northern heartlands has alienated Tory voters in the South.
He will address the criticism, referring to the argument that there will be less pressure on house prices and school places in the South if fewer people move there from communities being targeted in his levelling up drive.
The Prime Minister will also take a swipe at his predecessors in No10 for not tackling the issues he is focusing on.
“We are dealing with the biggest underlying issues of our economy and society. The problems that no government has had the guts to tackle before,” Mr Johnson will say.
THE Government cannot “patch and mend” every issue with Britain’s supply chains, the Prime Minister has said as he insisted recent disruption stemmed from the strength of the economic recovery.
Boris Johnson denied that the UK was in the grip of a crisis, insisting he was “not worried” about rising prices and labour shortages.
He likened the recent turmoil in the economy, which has seen shortages at petrol pumps owing to low levels of HGV drivers able to deliver fuel, and some shortages on supermarket shelves, to a “giant waking up” and “creaking” after the Covid shutdown.
The chaos at petrol stations has been “overwhelmingly” an issue of demand rather than supply, prompted by panic buying, he said.
“Supply has more than matched average daily demand,” he told the BBC.
In a series of broadcast interviews yesterday before his keynote speech to close the Tory conference in Manchester today, Mr Johnson invoked Margaret Thatcher’s well-known remark that there is “no alternative” to capitalism.
“The UK has got to, and we can, do much, much better by becoming a higher-wage, higher-productivity economy,” the Prime Minister told ITV.
Stressing his refusal to return to an era of unconstrained immigration to provide businesses with cheap labour, he said: “I do not want to go back to what I think is a tired or failed approach, which people voted against twice in 2016 and in 2019.”
Instead, companies should invest in their employees by raising salaries and in upgrading equipment, he said. And he urged businesses to automate more jobs where possible.
Underlining his reluctance for the state to intervene, he said: “It’s not the job of government to come in and try to fix every problem in business and industry.” He suggested the nation’s “fantastic logistics” expertise meant supply-chain issues would fix themselves.
Return to the office
Young people should return to the office to avoid being “gossiped about” in their absence, Mr Johnson said.
The Government scrapped guidance to work from home at the end of the Prime Minister’s road map out of coronavirus lockdown in July. Employers were advised to manage a gradual return of their workforce over the summer.
Urging staff to take up the opportunity to get back to the workplace, Mr Johnson said: “I think that, for young people in particular, it is really essential ... if you’re going to learn on the job, you can’t just do it on Zoom.
“You’ve got to be able to come in ... you’ve got to know what everyone else is talking about. Otherwise, you’re going to be gossiped about and you’re going to lose out.” He added: “You need to be there, and you have the stimulus of exchange and competition.”
The Prime Minister also disclosed that Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, has “written a pretty good letter some weeks ago to everybody, telling them to get back to their desks” in Whitehall.
However, he conceded that not all staff at Downing Street have returned to their desks yet.
Fuel duty
Mr Johnson insisted he did not want to raise any other taxes after increasing National Insurance contributions, but he did not rule out a fuel duty rise.
Asked whether he thought the levy facing motorists, which has been frozen for the past 11 years, should be increased to raise the Government’s revenue, he told Times Radio: “I’m not going to comment on fiscal measures which are for the Treasury.” He said: “We don’t want to raise tax of any kind, that’s not what we want to do.” However, he went on: “What I do think we need to do is recognise that the era of relying on hydrocarbons – on oil and gas – is coming to an end.”
Challenged on whether it sounded as though he was leaving open the door to a fuel duty rise in the Budget, he said: “No I’m just saying we’ve got to get ready for an exciting new era in which we rely on clean, green sources of energy. Already, every day ... we get more than 50 per cent of our ‘juice’ from clean, green sources.”
The nation can “wean” itself off hydrocarbons, he insisted.
Cost of living
The proportion of income that most families are spending on housing is too high, the Prime Minister conceded, amid a growing row over the rising cost of living.
He told the BBC: “For most people in Britain now, housing as a share of your weekly outgoings, is far too big.
“You’ve got to fix that – bring down the costs. Bring down the cost of energy by investing in clean, green power in the way that we are.
“That’s the way to deal with the cost of living.”
Mr Johnson defended the Government’s decision to end the £20 a week uplift in Universal Credit payments that was introduced during the pandemic, arguing that taxpayers should not be called upon to top up low wages through the benefits system.
“What we won’t do is take more money in tax to subsidise low pay through the welfare system,” he said.
The Prime Minister repeatedly dismissed fears about rising inflation, describing such concerns as “unfounded” in an interview on Sky News. People have been “worried about inflation for a long time; it hasn’t materialised”, he said.
‘Irresponsible crusties’
Mr Johnson branded Insulate Britain protesters, who have blocked key motorways in recent weeks, as “irresponsible crusties”. Hitting out at the eco-demonstrators for causing “considerable damage to the economy”, he added: “There are some people who call those individuals legitimate protesters. They are not.”
He accused the protest group, a faction of Extinction Rebellion, of “basically trying to stop people going about their day’s work”.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, is “doing the right thing” in changing the law so that eco-protesters can be jailed for up to six months or face an unlimited fine, he said.
Safer streets for women
The Government has “got to make the streets safer” and “address the underlying frustration of millions of women” at the “slowness of the criminal justice system and the inadequacy of the cruel justice system” in dealing with rape and domestic violence, Mr Johnson said.
Asked by Sky News whether he could look a rape victim in the eye and tell them there is a high chance of justice being done, he admitted “the answer to that is ‘no’”.
The Prime Minister said he was “not happy with the way things have been going” but highlighted the Government’s plans to recruit more police officers and increase the number of prosecutors working on such cases.