This afternoon Boris Johnson has addressed rising prices and launched new housing plans in an apparent attempt to relaunch his premiership following Monday’s vote of confidence.
Speaking in Blackpool, Lancashire, the prime minister referred to the recent Platinum Jubilee celebrations, and said that over the past 7 decades of Elizabeth II’s reign, there has been an uneven but “unimaginable” shift in living standards.
He admitted that the country is “steering into the wind” as it recovers from the Covid pandemic, but that large-scale unemployment was not an issue at it was in the 1980s and the 1990s.
He admitted that record job vacancies were contributing to inflation but that the government risked “fanning the flames’ of inflation” if it focused on spending rather than tackling long-term causes of the issues.
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This is a marked departure from Johnson’s claim at last September’s Conservative party conference that inflation fears were “unfounded”.
He argued that UK is in possession of “the tools we need to get on top of rising prices.”
“The global headwinds are strong but our engines… are stronger, we will get through it,” he went on.
He said that while soaring prices meant some households were finding things “simply unaffordable, the government has already pledged £37 billion in support.
“We will back Britain and we will back the British people for as long as it takes,” he went on.
More to come
