David Cameron said he wants to make Britain a country of full employment, overtaking Germany to have the highest proportion of people in work out of the G7 countries.
The prime minister did not put a timescale on the pledge, which he described as “an aspiration [he] wants to achieve”.
In a speech given in Ipswich, Cameron outlined the Conservative party’s manifesto pledges on employment and the economy. He described the minimum wage as a success and said it should be raised regularly, pointing to the increase to £6.50 in October.
He said he looked forward to the minimum wage reaching £7 and that the “circumstances are now ripe for further increases”.
“In terms of how you help people on low pay, the best thing you can do is cut their taxes,” the prime minister said. “That’s why our ambition is that you should be able to earn £12,500 before you pay any income tax.”
Cameron defended his government’s economic record. “This idea that all the jobs created in Britain in the last four years are low paid and zero-hours contracts is just not true.”
He said 90% of the jobs created in the past year have been full-time and two-thirds have been highly skilled, therefore demanding a higher salary.
“Do I think we’ve solved Britain’s economic problems? Of course not.
“Have we got a lot more to do to make this economy a great success story in Europe? Yes, of course we have. But we’re on the right track with 1,000 jobs created every day this government’s been in office.”
To help boost small businesses, Cameron promised to triple the number of startup loans to at least 75,000 by the end of the next parliament, making £300m in loan capital available.
On current trends, the scheme will have created at least 100,000 jobs by 2020. The programme provides small loans (on average £5,000 – £6,000) to people who would struggle to secure credit from banks or building societies because of a lack of collateral.
