Boris Johnson will use his keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference today to promise a “long overdue” economic “change of direction” for the country, insisting that his “levelling up” agenda is the key to achieving it.
The prime minister will speak on the same day that the £20-a-week cut to Universal Credit comes into effect – with the Labour Party reportedly set to drive a van around the Tory event in Manchester advertising for the move, which is forecast to drag half a million more people below the poverty line, to be reversed.
Mr Johnson is expected to tell delegates that his administration has the “guts” to deal with the biggest issues facing the country, one day after he denied Britain was in a crisis after weeks of fuel shortages and empty supermarket shelves caused in part by his Brexit deal.
Plans for a rise to minimum wage were also revealed last night, which the PM will likely mention in his address on Wednesday but will not come into effect for some time. According to a report in The Times, Mr Johnson will officially announce the hike “within weeks” after accepting recommendations from independent advisers which could boost the pay of Britain’s lowest earners to around £9.42 pounds an hour, the newspaper said.
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