UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday pledged to build a "high wage, high skill and high productivity" nation after accusing his Conservative predecessors of lacking the "guts" to tackle big problems
LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th October, 2021) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday pledged to build a "high wage, high skill and high productivity" nation after accusing his Conservative predecessors of lacking the "guts" to tackle big problems.
"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," Johnson told the Conservative Party annual conference held in Manchester, England.
The prime minister took a swipe at former premiers Theresa May, David Cameron and John Major as he claimed that "after decades of drift and dither" his government got Brexit done, is now carrying out a successful vaccination campaign against COVID-19 and will reform the social care system.
Johnson admitted that the reforms could take time and will sometimes be difficult, but ruled out reaching again for the "same old lever of uncontrolled migration to keep wages low."
The prime minister's first in-person keynote speech to a Conservative conference in two years came at a time the UK is facing a driver's deficit that has led to shortage of fuel at gas stations and food product at supermarket's shelves.
Rising global gas prices are also threatening millions of UK households with soaring energy bill over the winter, and the government scrapped on Wednesday the �20 ($27) per week boost to Universal Credit affecting millions of people.
Reacting to Johnson's speech, the general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, Manuel Cortes, criticized the UK leader's words as "hollow" and full of "hot air."
"As ever this political jester came up with nothing but hot air. We had slogans over specifics at a time when costs are rising, inflation is a real worry, universal credit is reduced for millions, there are widespread food and fuel shortages and a very real climate crisis," Cortes said in a statement.
The leader of the Scottish National Party in the UK Parliament, Ian Blackford, said that Johnson got the tone of his speech wrong.
"The Tory rank and file might have had a good laugh today - but it is at everyone else's expense. Outside in the real world, no one whose universal credit is being cut by this cruel Tory government is laughing at Boris Johnson's shameless attempts to shift the blame," Blackford tweeted.
In a more moderate tone, the director general of the Confederation of British Industry, Tony Danker, said that the prime minister had set out a "compelling vision" of the UK economy, but noted that his words need to be backed by action.
