Tomorrow at Conservative Party Conference the Prime Minister and
Leader of the Conservative Party, Rt Hon MP, will pledge to ‘get on with our job of uniting
and levelling up across the UK’.
He will outline his determination to unite and level up the
country and to ‘deal with the biggest issues facing the
country…that no government has had the guts to tackle before’.
He will say we are embarking on a ‘change of direction that has
been long overdue in the UK economy’ to create a ‘high wage, high
skill, high productivity economy’.
And the PM will argue that levelling up will ‘take the pressure
off parts of the overheating South East while simultaneously
offering hope and opportunity to those areas that have felt left
behind’.
He is expected to say:
“After decades of drift and dither this reforming government,
this can do government that got Brexit done, is getting the
vaccine rollout done and is going to get social care done.
“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.
…
“Because we are embarking now on the change of direction that has
been long overdue in the UK economy.
“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.
…
“And 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.
“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.
…
“There is no reason why the inhabitants of one part of the
country should be geographically fated to be poorer than others.
“Or why people should feel they have to move away from their
loved ones, or communities to reach their potential.
…
“Levelling up works for the whole country - and is the right and
responsible policy.
“Because it helps to take the pressure off parts of the
overheating south east, while simultaneously offering hope and
opportunity to those areas that have felt left behind.
“There are all kinds of improvements you can make to people’s
lives without diminishing anyone else, and they are the tools of
levelling up. If you want the idea in a nutshell it is that you
will find talent, genius, flair, imagination, enthusiasm – all of
them evenly distributed around this country – but opportunity is
not, and it is our mission as conservatives to promote
opportunity with every tool we have.”
