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MANCHESTER: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson rallied his Conservative party faithful on Wednesday, vowing a far-reaching overhaul to wean the UK economy off cheap foreign labour after Brexit.
Shrugging off panic buying at petrol stations, bare supermarket shelves and retailers’ warnings of a bleak Christmas to come, the Tory leader said the short-term pain was worth it.
Closing the Conservatives’ annual conference, their first in-person event since 2019 because of the coronavirus pandemic, Johnson was on characteristically bullish form with an array of partisan zingers hurled against the opposition Labour party.
There was little new policy detail in the 45-minute speech, and Johnson framed a broader narrative that the UK’s departure from the European Union presents a historic opportunity.
‘Change of direction’
“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,” he said.
“We are embarking now on the change of direction that has been long overdue in the UK economy,” he added, vowing no return to the pre-Brexit model of “uncontrolled immigration”.
Instead, British businesses will have to invest in their workers and technology to push the country “towards a high-wage, high-skill, high-productivity economy”.
“Yes, it will take time, and sometimes it will be difficult, but that is the change that people voted for in 2016,” he said, referring to Britain’s seismic Brexit referendum.
In the meantime, the government has grudgingly agreed to a limited number of short-term visas to lure truckers and poultry workers from eastern Europe.
Johnson hit back at Conservative right-wingers who are aghast at finance minister Rishi Sunak’s warnings that taxes will have to go up to pay for the government’s gargantuan pandemic spending.
Iconic Tory leader Margaret Thatcher would have “wagged her finger and said more borrowing now is just higher interest rates, and even higher taxes later,” he said.
Business groups expressed backing for Johnson’s economic vision.
“But what businesses urgently need are answers to the problems they are facing in the here and now,” said Shevaun Haviland, head of the British Chambers of Commerce.
“The economic recovery is on shaky ground and if it stalls, then the private-sector investment and tax revenues that the prime minister wants to fuel his vision will be in short supply.” But Unite, Britain’s biggest trade union, accused Johnson of hot air.
“Without serious action, this speech is nothing more than headline-chasing by a prime minister desperate to deflect from the serious and growing cost-of-living crisis happening on his watch,” leader Sharon Graham said.
Muted on climate
The government blames the acute labour shortages afflicting the UK economy not on its hardline approach to Brexit but on the coronavirus pandemic.
But the supply crisis risks undermining themes that Johnson emphasised in his conference speech, including “Global Britain” after the EU divorce.