Boris Johnson RECAP: Prime Minister pledges ‘high-wage, low-tax economy’ in Conservative conference speech | Science and maths teachers to benefit from 'levelling-up premium' | Johnson says reducing GP and NHS waiting times is now the ‘priority of British people’
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Boris Johnson LIVE: Latest updates as Prime Minister addresses Conservative Party Conference
Key Events
- PM said he wants to “unleash” the “spirit” of the nation.
- Johnson critical of Labour’s performance during the pandemic
- Tory leader urges people to go back to their workplaces
- PM says it is only responsible to raise taxes to fund healthcare
- Johnson pledges more trees, increasing rape prosecutions, tackling people traffickers
The Prime Minister explained to Tory delegates his drive to “level up” the country.
“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 Boris Johnson.
“Our mission as Conservatives is to promote opportunity with every tool we have.
“It is still a grim fact in this country that kids will grow up in neighbourhoods that are much less safe than others, some will be sucked into gangs, some will be at risk of stabbings and shootings, some will get themselves caught in the one-way ratchet of the criminal justice system. Many others will not.
“That’s why levelling-up means fighting crime, putting more police out on the beat as we are, toughening sentences, rolling up the county lines drug network – with 1,100 of them gone already – giving police the powers they need to fight these demons in death and misery. That’s what we want to do.”
Boris Johnson criticised “lying, bullying, cowardly” men as he addressed violence against women and girls.
The Prime Minister said: “On behalf of the entire Government, I tell you this: we will not rest until we’ve increased the successful prosecutions for rape.
“Because too many lying, bullying, cowardly men are using the law’s delay to get away with violence against women, and we cannot and will not stand for it.”
Boris Johnson hit out at “decades of drift and dither” from previous governments lacking the “guts” for major change as he pledged to fix the social care crisis.
He told the Tory conference: “When I stood on the steps of Downing Street, I promised to fix this crisis.
“After decades of drift and dither, this reforming Government, this can-do Government, this Government that got Brexit done, that is getting the Covid vaccine rollout done, is going to get social care done and we’re going to get the biggest underlying issues of our economy and society – the problems that no government has had the guts to tackle.”
Boris Johnson's wife Carrie watches as he delivers his keynote speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.
Mr Johnson added: “To deliver that change we will get on with our job of uniting and levelling up across the UK – the greatest project that any government can embark on.”
Boris Johnson made a joke about Michael Gove’s dancing in an Aberdeen nightclub, suggesting the Cabinet minister was leading by example that dancing was again safe after the lifting of coronavirus restrictions.
“Let’s here it for Jon Bon Govey,” the Prime Minister told the conference hall.
He continued: “How have we managed to open up ahead of so many of our friends?
“The answer is because of the rollout of that vaccine, a UK phenomenon, the magic potion invented in Oxford University … distributed at incredible speeds to vaccination centres everywhere.
“We vaccinated so rapidly that we were able to do those crucial groups one to four, the oldest and most vulnerable, faster than any other major economy in the world.
“Although the disease as sadly not gone away, the impact on death rates has been astonishing.”
He urged those present to “get” a jab and invited them “try” a so-called “fist pump” with their neighbour.
Boris Johnson said a “tide of anxiety” is washing into A&E departments and GP practices, as he defended his multi-billion pound tax hike to pay for NHS and social care.
Mr Johnson recalled lying in a hospital bed last year and seeing a hole in the ground, noting: “They seemed to be digging a hole for something or indeed someone, possibly me.
“But the NHS saved me and our wonderful nurses pulled my chestnuts out of that Tartarian pit, and I went back on a visit the other day and I saw that the hole had been filled in with three or four gleaming storeys of a new paediatrics unit.
“There you have a metaphor for how we must build back better now. 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.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson delivers his keynote speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson started his Conservative Party conference speech by noting it was “amazing to be here in person”.
He told the audience in Manchester: “It is the first time since so many of you worked to defy the sceptics by winning councils and communities the Conservatives have never won in before, such as Hartlepool.”
In a reference to Jeremy Corbyn, Mr Johnson said: “In fact, it is the first time since the general election of 2019 when we finally sent that corduroyed cosmonaut into orbit where he belongs.
“Why is it that we are back today for a traditional Conservative cheek-by-jowler?
“It is because for months we have had one of the most open economies and societies.”