Boris Johnson: Getting On With the Job or More Bluff and Bluster?

BUILDING BACK BETTER: Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressed the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester yesterday. This is what he told the party faithful:

Isn’t it amazing to be here in person

the first time we have met since you defied the sceptics by winning councils and communities that Conservatives have never won in before – such as Hartlepool

in fact it’s the first time since the general election of 2019 when we finally sent the corduroyed communist cosmonaut into orbit where he belongs

and why are we back today

for a traditional Tory cheek by jowler?

It is because for months we have had one of the most open economies and societies

and on July 19 we decided to open every single

theatre and every concert hall and night club in England

and

we knew that some people would still be anxious

so we sent top government representatives to our sweatiest boites de nuit to show that anyone could dance

perfectly safely

and wasn’t he brilliant my friends?

let’s hear it for Jon Bon Govi

living proof that we, you all

represent the most jiving hip happening and generally funkapolitan party in the world

and how have we managed to open up

ahead of so many of our friends?

You know the answer, its

because of the roll-out of that

vaccine

a UK phenomenon

the magic potion invented in oxford university

and bottled in wales

distributed at incredible speed to vaccination centres everywhere

I saw the army in action in Glasgow

firing staple guns like carbines as they set up a huge vaccination centre

and in Fermanagh I saw the needles go in like a collective sewing machine

and they vaccinated so rapidly that we were able to

do those crucial groups one to four

the oldest and most vulnerable faster than any other major economy in the world

and though the disease has sadly not gone away the impact on death rates has been astonishing

and I urge you all to get your jabs because every day our vaccine defences are getting stronger and stronger

and you, all of you, and everybody watching made this roll-out possible

you each made each other safe

so perhaps we should all thank each other

go on – try a cautious fist bump

because it’s ok now

and we in turn thank the

volunteers, the public health workers, the council workers

the pharmacists

but above all our untiring unbeatable unbelievable NHS

and as a responsible conservative government we must recognise the sheer scale of their achievement

but recognise also the scale of the challenge ahead


‍The NHS

When I was lying in St Thomas’s hospital last year l looked blearily out of my window at a hole in the ground between my ICU and another much older Victorian section and amid the rubble of brick they seemed to be digging a hole for something or indeed someone – possibly me

but the NHS saved me

and our wonderful nurses pulled my chestnuts out of Tartarean pit

and the other day I went back on a visit

and I saw that the hole had been filled in

with three or four gleaming storeys

of a new paediatrics unit

and there you have the metaphor my friends for how to build back better now

we have a huge hole

in the public finances

We spent £407 bn on covid support

and our debt now stands at over two trillion pounds

and waiting lists will almost certainly go up before they come down

covid pushed out a great bow wave of cases

people did not or could not seek help

and that wave is now coming back

a tide of anxiety washing into every A and E and every GP

your hip replacement

your mother’s surgery

and this is the priority of the British people

does anyone seriously imagine that we should not now be raising the funding to sort this out

is that really the view of responsible conservatives?

I can tell you something

Margaret Thatcher would not have ignored this meteorite that has just crashed through the public finances

she would have wagged her finger and said more borrowing now is just higher interest rates and even higher taxes later

when this country was sick our NHS was the nurse

frontline health care workers

battled against a new disease

selflessly

risking their lives sacrificing their lives

and it is right that this Party that has looked after the NHS for most of its history

should be the one to rise to the challenge

48 new hospitals

50,000 more nurses

50m more GP appointments

40 new diagnostic centres

and fixing those backlogs with real change

because the pandemic not only put colossal pressure on the NHS

it was a lightning flash illumination of a problem we have failed to address for decades


Fixing Social Care

In 1948 this country created the National Health Service but kept social care local

and though that made sense in many ways generations of older people have found themselves

lost in the gap

when covid broke there were 100,000 beds in the NHS

  • and 30,000 occupied by people who could have been cared for elsewhere

whether at home or in residential care

and we all know that this problem of delayed discharge is one of the major reasons why

it takes too long to get the hospital treatment that your family desperately need

and people worry that they will be the one in ten

to suffer from the potentially catastrophic cost of dementia

wiping out everything they have

and preventing them from passing on anything to their families

and we Conservatives stand by those who have shared our values

thrift and hard work

and who face total destitution in this brutal lottery

of old age

in which treatment for cancer is funded by the state

and care for alzheimers is not – or only partly

and to fix these twin problems of the NHS and social care

we aren’t just going to siphon billions of new taxes into crucial services

without improving performance

we will

use new technology so that there is a single set of electronic records as patients pass between health and social care

improving care

and ensuring that cash goes to the frontline

and not on needless bureaucracy

When I stood on the steps of Downing Street I promised to fix this crisis

and after decades of drift and dither

this reforming government

this can do government

this government that got brexit done

that is getting the vaccine rollout done

is going to get social care done

and 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

and I mean the long term structural weaknesses

in the UK economy

It is thanks to that vaccine roll-out that we now have the most open economy and the fastest growth in the G7

we have unemployment two million lower than forecast

We have demand surging

and I am pleased to say that after years of stagnation – more than a decade – wages are going up

faster than before the pandemic began

and that matters deeply

because we are embarking now on a 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 to the present stresses and strains

which are mainly a function of growth and economic revival

is not to reach for that same old lever of uncontrolled immigration

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 the facilities the machinery they need to do their jobs

the truckstops – to pick an example entirely at random – with basic facilities where you don’t have to urinate in the bushes

and that is the direction in which this country is going now

towards a high wage

high skill

high productivity

and yes, thereby low tax economy

that is what the people of this country need and deserve

in which everyone can take pride in their work and in the quality of their work

and yes it will take time

and yes it will sometimes be difficult

but that was the change that people voted for in 2016

and that was the change they voted for again powerfully in 2019

and 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

We have one of the most imbalanced societies and lop-sided economies

of all the richer countries

it is not just that there is a gap between London and the South east and the rest of the country

there are aching gaps within the regions themselves

what monkey glands are they applying in Ribble Valley

what royal jelly are they eating

that they live seven years longer than the people of Blackpool

only 33 miles away

Why does half of York’s population boast a degree and only a quarter of Doncaster’s

This is not just a question of social justice

it is an appalling waste of potential

and it is holding this country back

because 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

When Thomas Gray stood in that country churchyard in 1750 and wrote his famous elegy

as the curfew tolled the knell of parting day

he lamented

the wasted talents of those buried around him

the flowers born to blush unseen

the mute inglorious miltons who never wrote a poem

because they never got to read

the simple folk who died illiterate and innumerate

and he knew that it was an injustice

let me ask you, maybe you know

where was he standing when he chewed his pensive quill ? Anybody know

Correct, thank you, he was standing in Stoke poges

my friends there may be underprivileged parts of this country but stoke poges is not now among them

in fact it was only recently determined by the Daily Telegraph

and if you can’t believe that, what can you believe my friends

to be the 8th richest village in England

since gray elegised, Buckinghamshire has levelled up to be among the most productive regions in the whole of Europe

Stoke Poges may still of course have its problems

but they are the overwhelmingly caused the sheer lust of other people to live in or near Stoke Poges

overcrowded trains

endless commutes

too little time with the kids

the constant anxiety that your immemorial view of chalk downland is going to be desecrated by ugly new homes

and that is why 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

and let us be clear that there is a huge philosophical difference between us and labour

because in their souls they don’t like levelling up

they like levelling down they do

they like decapitating the tall poppies and taxing the rich till the pips squeak

they dislike academic competition latin I hear

and in Islington – I kid you not I have seen it with my own eyes – they like kids to run races where nobody actually wins

and I have to tell you I don’t believe that is a good preparation for life

let alone for the Olympic games

and if you insist on the economic theory behind levelling up

it is contained in the insight of Wilfredo Pareto

a 19th century Italian figre who floated from the cobwebbed attic of my memories

that there are all kinds of improvements

you can make to people’s lives he said

without diminishing anyone else

Rishi will I am sure confirm this

and we call these pareto improvements

and they are the means of levelling up

and the idea in a nutshell it is that you will find talent genius flair imagination enthusiasm everywhere in this country all of them evenly distributed

but opportunity is not

and it is our mission as conservatives to promote opportunity

with every tool we have

and it is still a grim fact that in this country

that some kids will grow up in neighbourhoods that are safer than others

and some will be, as Priti was saying, some will be sucked into gangs

and some will be at risk of stabbing and shooting

and some will get themselves caught in the one way ratchet of the criminal justice system

and many others will not

that’s why levelling up means fighting crime

putting more police out on the beat as we are

and toughening sentences

and rolling up the county lines drugs networks as we are

1100 gone already

and giving the police the powers they need

to fight these dealers in death and misery that’s what we want to do

– and what is Labour’s answer, by the way –

to decriminalise hard drugs apparently

to let the gangsters off with a caution

an answer that is straight from the powder rooms of the North London dinner parties

and nothing to do with the real needs of this country

crime has been falling

and not just by the way because we took the precaution of locking up the public for much of the last 18 months

but because you have a conservative government that understands the broken windows theory of crime

I read a learned article by some lawyer saying we should not bother about pet theft

Well I say to Cruella de Vil QC – if you can steal a dog or a cat

then there is frankly no limit to your depravity

and you know those people gluing themselves to roads

I don’t call them legitimate protestors

like some Labour councillors do I, some Labour councillors actually glue themselves to roads

I say they are a confounded nuisance who are blocking ambulances, stopping people go about their daily lives

and I am glad Priti is taking new powers to insulate them snugly in prison where they belong

what I found most incredible of all was the decision by Labour

now led by lefty Islington lawyers

to vote against tougher sentences for serious sexual and violent offenders

and on behalf of the entire government I tell you

we will not rest until we have increased the successful prosecutions for rape

because too many lying bullying cowardly men are using the law’s delay

to get away with violence against women

and we cannot and we will not stand for it

and I know that there are some who now tell us that we are ungenerous and unfeeling in our attempts to control our borders

and I say – don’t give me that

This is the government that stood up to China and announced that we would provide a haven for British overseas nationals in Hong Kong

30,000 have already applied

and I am really proud to be part of a Conservative government that will welcome 20,000 Afghans

people who risked their lives to guide us and translate for us

we are doing the right and responsible thing

and speaking as the great grandson of a Turk who fled in fear of his life I know that this country is a beacon of light and hope for people around the world

provided they come here legally

provided we understand who they are and what they want to contribute

and that is why we took back control of our borders

and will pass the borders bill

because we believe there must be a distinction between someone who comes here legally and someone who doesn’t

and though I have every sympathy with people genuinely in fear of their lives

I have no sympathy whatever

with the people traffickers who take thousands of pounds

to send children to sea in frail and dangerous craft

and we must end this lethal trade

we must break the gangsters’ business model

and is it not a sublime irony that even in French politics there is now a leading centre right politician calling for a referendum on the EU

Who is now calling for France to reprendre le controle??

it’s good old Michel Barnier

that’s what happens if you spend a year trying to argue with Lord Frost

the greatest frost since the great frost of 1709

and we will fight these gangs at home and abroad

because their victims are invariably the poorest and the neediest

and I will tell you what levelling up is

a few years ago they started a school not far from the Olympic park

a new school that anyone could send their kids to

in an area that has for decades been one of the most disadvantaged in London

that school is Brampton Manor academy and it now sends more kids to Oxbridge than Eton

and if you want proof of what I mean by unleashing potential

and by levelling up

look at Brampton Manor

and we can do it

There is absolutely no reason why the kids of this country should lag behind

or why so many should be unable to read and write or do basic mathematics at the age of 11

and to level up

– on top of the extra 14 bn we’re putting into education

and on top of the increase that means every teacher starts with a salary of £30k

we are announcing a levelling up premium of up to £3000 to send the best maths and science teachers to the places that need them most

and above all we are investing in our skills, skills folks

our universities are world beating, I owe everything to my tutors and they are one of the great glories of our economy

but we all know that some of the most brilliant and imaginative and creative people in Britain

and some of the best paid people in Britain

did not go to university

and to level up you need to give people the options

the skills

that are right for them

and to make the most of those skills and knowledge

and to level up you need urgently to

plug all the other the gaps in our infrastructure that are still holding people and communities back

As I’ve been saying over this wonderful conference to you

when I became leader of this party, there were only, can you remember, what percentage of households had gigabit broadband when you were so kind as to make me leader? 7 percent, only 7 percent

and by the new year that will be up to 68 per cent

thanks to Rishi’s superdeduction the pace is now accelerating massively

as companies thrust the fibre-optic vermicelli in the most hard to reach places

it’s wonderful, for years SNP leader Ian Blackford has been telling the Commons that he is nothing but a humble crofter on the isle of Skye

well now we have fibre optic broadband of very high quality that we can inspect the library or is it perhaps the billiard room of Ian Blackford’s croft

and that is levelling up in action

and my friends it is not good enough just to rely on zoom

after decades of ducked decisions

our national infrastructure is way behind some of our key competitors

It is a disgrace that you still can’t swiftly cross the pennines by rail

a disgrace that leeds is the largest city in Europe with no proper metro system

a waste of human potential that so many places are not served by decent bus routes

transport is one of the supreme leveller-uppers

and we are making the big generational changes shirked by previous governments

we will do Northern Powerhouse rail

we will link up the cities of the midlands and the north

we will restore those sinews of the union that have been allowed to atrophy

the A1 north of Berwick and on into Scotland

the A 75 in Scotland that is so vital for the links with northern Ireland and the rest of the country

the north wales corridor

and we will invest in our roads

unblocking those coagulated roundabouts and steering-wheel-bending traffic lights

putting on 4000 more clean green buses

made in this country

some of them running on hydrogen

and as we come out of covid

our towns and cities are again going to be buzzing with life

because

we know

that a productive workforce

needs that spur

that only comes with face to face meetings

and water cooler gossip

if young people are to learn on the job in the way that they always have and must

we will and must see people back in the office

and that is why we are building back better with a once in an a century £640bn pound programme

of investment

and by making neighbourhoods safer

by putting in the gigabit broadband

by putting in the roads and the schools and the healthcare

we will enable more and more young people everywhere

to share the dream of home ownership

the great ambition of the human race

that the left always privately share but publicly disparage

and we can do it

Look at this country from the air
Go on google maps

you see how our landscape has been plotted and pieced and jigsawed together by centuries of bequests and litigation

a vast testament to security of title

trust in the law

a confidence that is responsible for so much international investment

you see how rich this country is growing

the billions of loving and incremental improvements to homes and gardens

you can see how beautiful it is

vast untouched moorland

and hills

broadleaf forests

we are going to re-wild parts of the country and consecrate a total of 30 per cent to nature

we are planting tens of millions of trees

otters are returning to rivers from which they have been absent for decades

beavers that have not been seen on some rivers since tudor times

massacred for their pelts

are now back

and if that isn’t conservatism, my friends I don’t know what is

build back beaver

‍and though the beavers may sometimes build without local authority permission

you can also see how much room there is

to build the homes that young families need in this country

not on green fields

not just jammed in the south east

but beautiful homes on brownfield sites

in places where homes make sense
Home ownership
And this government is helping young people to afford a home

It has been a scandal – a rebuke to all we stand for

that over the last 20 years the dream of home ownership

has receded

and yet under this government we are turning the tide

we have not only built more homes than at any time in the last 30 years

we are helping young people on to the property ladder

with our 95 per cent mortgages

and there is no happiness like taking a set of keys

and knowing that the place is yours

and you can paint the front door any colour you like

as it happens I am not allowed to paint my own front door, it has to be black

but I certainly don’t have far to go to work

and if you don’t have too far to go to work

and the commute is not too dreadful

and if

the job suits your skills

and your wifi is fast and reliable

then I tell you something else

that housing

in the right place

at an affordable price

will add massively not just to your general joie de vivre

but to your productivity

and that is how we solve the national productivity puzzle

by fixing the broken housing market

by plugging in the gigabit

by putting in decent safe bus routes and all other transport infrastructure

and by investing in skills skills skills

and that by the way is how we help to cut the cost of living for everyone

because housing, energy, transport

are now huge parts of our monthly bills

and it is by fixing our broken housing market

by sorting out our energy supply – more wind, more nuclear, becoming less dependent on hydrocarbons from abroad

by putting in those transport links

we will hold costs down and save you money

and we will make this country an even more attractive destination for foreign direct investment

We are already the number one

– look at the Nissan investment in Sunderland

or the Pfizer vaccine manufacturing centre that’s coming to Swindon

and with these productivity gains we will turbo charge that advantage

and help businesses to start and grow everywhere

so let me come now to the punchline of my sermon on the vaccine

It was not the government that made the wonder drug

it wasn’t brewed in the alembicks of the department of health

It was, of course it was Oxford University, but it was the private sector that made it possible

behind those vaccines are

companies and shareholders and, yes,

bankers

you need deep pools of liquidity that are to be found in the City of London

it was capitalism that ensured that we had a vaccine in less than a year

and the answer therefore is not to attack the wealth creators

it is to encourage them because they are responsible for the aggregate increase in the country’s wealth

that enables us to make those pareto improvements

and to level up everywhere

and to rub home my point

it is not just that vaccination has saved more than 120,000 lives

Vaccination has allowed us to meet like this

and blessed us with such rapid growth

with wages rising fastest for those on lowest incomes

and that levelling up in action

The vaccines have ensured that by a simple vowel mutation jabs jabs jabs

become jobs jobs jobs

the world’s most effective vaccines have saved our open society and free market economy

and it is our open society and free market economy that have produced the world’s most effective vaccines

and that is the symmetry in the lesson of the covid vaccines

– science, innovation, capitalism –

is vital now for the challenge we face

the challenge the whole humanity faces

is even more existential for our way of life

in just a few weeks time this country will host the summit of our generation in Glasgow

when the resolve of the world is put to the test

can we keep alive the ambition of Paris – to stop the planet heating by more than 1.5 degrees

government can’t do it alone

and taxpayers certainly can’t do it alone

the other day I took a boat out into the moray firth

to see an aquatic forest of white turbines towering over the water like the redwoods of california

and you have no idea of their size until you see them up close

the deceptive speed of their wings

twice the diameter of the London eye

their tips slicing the air at more than 100 miles per hour

and I met the young men and women

apprentices

who had moved straight across from the world of oil and gas

and they had the same excitement at working amid winds and wave

and being able to see whales and dolphins from the office window

but they had the extra satisfaction that goes with knowing you are doing something to save the planet

and get Britain to Net Zero by 2050

and that is the symmetry represented by these giant windmills

massive and innovative private sector investment

and a government taking the tough decisions to make it possible

that’s the difference between this radical and optimistic Conservatism

and a tired old Labour

did you see them last week, did you watch them last week in Brighton

hopelessly divided I thought they looked

their leader like a seriously rattled bus conductor

pushed this way and that by, not that they have bus conductors any more unfortunately, like a seriously rattled bus conductor pushed this way and that by a corbynista mob of sellotape-spectacled sans-culottes

or the skipper of a cruise liner that has been captured by Somali pirates

desperately trying to negotiate a change of course

and then changing his mind

and remember Labour’s performance during the pandemic

flapping with all the conviction of a damp tea towel

They refused to say that schools were safe

they would have kept us in the European medicines agency

and slammed the brakes on the vaccine roll out

the Labour leader attacked the vaccine task force for spending money on outreach to vaccine hesitant minority groups

when it is hard to think of any better use of public money

and let us try to forgive him on the basis that he probably didn’t know what he was talking about

in previous national crises labour leaders have opted to minimise public anxiety and confusion by not trying to score cheap party political points

one thinks of Attlee or even Michael foot in the falklands crisis

sadly that was not the approach taken by captain hindsight

attacking one week

then rowing in behind when it seemed to be working

the human weathervane

the starmer chameleon

and in his final act of absurd opportunism he decided to oppose step four of the roadmap in July

that’s right folks

if we had listened to captain hindsight we would still be in lockdown we wouldn’t have the fastest growth in the G7

if Columbus had listened to captain hindsight he’d be famous for having discovered Tenerife

and how utterly astonishing that in the last few weeks labour should actually have voted against new funding we’re putting frward for the NHS

and we need to remember why and how we have been able to back people through this pandemic at all

it was because we Conservatives fixed the economy

we repaired the damage Labour left behind

every labour government has left office with unemployment higher than when it came in

every single one – ever since the party was invented

and today we are going to fix this economy and build back better than ever before

and just as we used our new freedoms to accelerate the vaccine rollout

we are going to use our brexit freedoms to

to do things differently

we are doing the borders bill

we have seen off the European superleague and protected grassroots football

we are doing at least eight freeports

superfertilised loam in which

business will plant new jobs across the UK

and now we are going further

not only jettisoning the EU rules we don’t need any more

but using new freedoms to

improve the way we regulate in the great growth areas of the 21st century

as we fulfil our ambition of becoming a science superpower

gene editing

data management

AI

Cyber quantum
we are going to be ever more global in our outlook

we have done 68 free trade deals including that great free trade deal with our friends in the EU that they all said was impossible

and after decades of bewildering refusal we have persuaded the Americans to import prime British beef

a market already worth £66 m

build back burger I say

‍and you ask yourself how have the americans been able to survive without British beef for so long?

and if you want a supreme example of global Britain in action

of something daring and brilliant that would simply not have happened if we had remained in the EU

I give you AUKUS – an idea so transparently right that Labour conference voted overwhelmingly against it

and I know that there has been a certain raucus squaukus from the anti-aukus caucus

But Aukus is simply a recognition of the reality that

the world is tilting on its economic axis

and our trade and relations with the Indo pacfific region are becoming ever more vital than ever before

and that is why we have

sent the amazing carrier strike group

to the far east

been performing manoeuvres with 40 friendly countries

HMS Queen Elizabeth

as long as the entire palace of Westminster

and rather more compelling as an argument

than many speeches made in the house of commons

it has dozens of F35s on board

and 66 thousand sausages aboard

not because want to threaten or be adversarial to anyone

either with the F35s or indeed the sausages

but because we want to stick up for the rule of law that is so vital for freedom of navigation and free trade

and that is what brings AUKUS together

Australia, UK, US

shared values

a shared belief in democracy and human rights

‍and a shared belief in the equal dignity and worth of every human being

very few countries could have pulled off the Kabul airlift – an astonishing feat by our brave armed forces

even fewer have the same moral priorities

No other government brokered a deal such as this government did with Astra Zeneca

so that the Oxford vaccine has been distributed at cost around the world

more than a billion low cost vaccines

invented in Britain

saving millions of lives

we are led by our values

by the things we stand for

and we should never forget that people around the world admire this country for its history and its traditions

they love the groovy new architecture and the fashion and the music and the chance of meeting Michael in the disco

but they like the way it emerges organically from a vast inherited conglomerate of culture and tradition

and we conservatives understand the need for both and

how each nourishes the other

and we attack and deny our history at our peril

and when they began to attack Churchill as a racist I was minded to ignore them

it is only 20 years ago since BBC audiences overwhelmingly voted him the greatest Briton of all time

because he helped defeat a regime after all that was defined by one of the most vicious racisms

the world has ever seen

but as time has gone by it has become clear to me that

this isn’t just a joke

they really do want to re-write our national story

starting with hereward the woke

we really are at risk of a kind of know nothing cancel culture know nothing iconoclasm

and so we Conservatives will defend our history and cultural inheritance

not because we are proud of everything

but because trying to edit it now is as dishonest as a celebrity trying furtively to change his entry in Wikipedia

and its a betrayal of our children’s education

churchill’s last words to his cabinet, actually his whole ministers but his cabinet were there

were

Never be separated from the americans

pretty good advice I’m sure you’ll agree –

‍–

and ended with the observation

man is spirit

He was right there.

I believe that through history and accident this country has a unique spirit

the spirit of the NHS nurses AND the entrepreneurs

whose innovative flair means that there are three countries in the world that have produced more than 100 unicorns not a mythical beast

tech companies worth more than a billion dollars each

They are the US and China and the UK and those unicorns they are now dispersed around the United Kingdom in a way that is new to our country, that is the spirit of levelling up

and we need the spirit of the NHS nurses and the entrepreneurs because each enables the other

I mean

the spirit of the footballers who took England into the final of a major knock out tournament for the first time in the lives of the vast majority of the people of this country

probably, looking around at all you young thrusters, the majority of you in this room

the indomitable spirit of Emma Raducanu

her grace and her mental resilience when the game was going against her

because that is what counts

the spirit of our Olympians

it is an incredible thing to come yet again in the top four

a formidable effort for a country that has only 0.8 per cent of the world’s population

in spite of the best efforts of some us jacob

but when we come second in the Paralympics as well –

that shows our values

not only the achievement of those elite athletes

but a country that is proud to be a trailblazer

to judge people not by where they come from

but by their spirit

and by what is inside them

That is the spirit that is the same across this country

in every town and village and city that can be found

that can be found in the hearts and minds of kids growing up everywhere

and that is the spirit we are going to unleash.

While the conference hall lapped it up, others were less generous:

The SNP said: 🤦 Boris Johnson’s shameless attempt to shift the blame will do nothing to fix the crisis he has caused.

⚠️ Tory Universal Credit cuts and regressive tax hikes will push families into poverty.

🚨 Yet, just like Thatcher, the Prime Minister fails to show an ounce of regret.

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s speech at Conservative Party conference, in which he claimed previous goverments ‘haven’t had the guts’ to tackle big issues in our economy and society, Katie Schmuecker, Deputy Director of Policy & Partnerships at JRF said: “The Prime Minister has not had the guts to look the millions of people whose incomes are being cut today in the eye and tell them how they are expected to get through the year ahead.  

“The Prime Minister’s attempt to strike an upbeat tone is completely at odds with the despair people are feeling and the cost-of-living crisis we are now facing. He has chosen to cut £20 a week from the incomes of millions including many who are in work as well as those who cannot work due to sickness, disability or caring responsibilities. 

“Promises of a ‘high wage, high skill economy’ that will take years to reach will offer no comfort to families whose incomes have been cut, and the Government knows this.  

“It is a sign of profound disrespect that he did not even acknowledge the struggle people across the country on low incomes are facing on the very day that the biggest ever cut to social security comes into force.” 

Anneliese Dodds MP, Labour’s Party Chair, responding to the Prime Minister’s speech at the Conservative Party conference, said: “Boris Johnson’s vacuous speech summed up this whole Conservative conference. The PM talked more about beavers than he did about action to tackle the multiple crises facing working people up and down the country.

“Far from getting a grip on the spiralling costs of energy, fuel and food, the Tories are actively making things worse – cutting incomes today for six million families by over £1,000 a year.

“Britain deserves a fairer, greener and more secure future. Last week Labour set out how we can get there. This week it’s clear that after over a decade in power the Conservatives don’t have a clue.”

Responding to Boris Johnson’s speech to the Conservative Party Conference, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “If Boris Johnson was serious about levelling up Britain, he wouldn’t be slashing universal credit in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.  

“The PM is in no position to lecture people on wages when he is holding down the pay of millions of key workers in the public sector.  

“And when he is doing nothing to fix the gaping hole in local authority budgets that has resulted in most social care workers being paid less than the real living wage. 

“As the country’s biggest employer, the government should be setting an example on paying staff properly – not skimping on wages. 

“My advice to the PM is simple. The best way to level up pay and conditions across the country is to give workers and their unions more bargaining power at work. 

“11 years into a Conservative government we hope that he can finally learn this lesson.” 

Commenting on the PM’s claims that wages are rising, Frances added: “Wages are barely rising above inflation, and millions of key workers – who got us through this crisis – are facing a real-terms pay cut this autumn.” 

Biggest ever overnight cut to social security “makes a mockery of levelling up”

This morning, around 5.5 million families across the United Kingdom are waking up £1,040-a-year worse off due to the Prime Minister imposing the biggest ever overnight cut to social security.

Despite fierce opposition from across the political spectrum, his government has pressed ahead with this controversial cut which will cause immense, immediate and avoidable hardship.

As the cut comes into effect today, the Prime Minister must face the five most serious consequences of his cut:

  1. Half a million more people pulled into poverty, including 200,000 children.
  2. Makes social security wholly inadequate by reducing the main rate of out-of-work support to its lowest level in real terms since around 1990 and its lowest ever level as a proportion of average earnings.
  3. Around 20% of all working-age families across the UK have lost £1,040 a year. 6 in 10 single parent families will be affected by this cut.
  4. 1.7 million people who will experience this cut to Universal Credit are unable to work – due to caring for others, disability, or illness – a promise of higher wages will do nothing to help them.
  5. The cut takes £6 billion of spending power out of local economies. The cut has the most severe impact in Yorkshire and the Humber, the North East, North West and West Midlands, although no region will be left unscathed.

Helen Barnard, Deputy Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Today the Prime Minister has imposed the biggest ever overnight cut to social security. It makes a mockery of his mission to level up.

“Despite overwhelming opposition, he is ploughing ahead with a cut which fundamentally undermines the adequacy of our vital social security system as we face a cost-of-living crisis. This is not building back better, it’s repeating the same mistakes made after the last financial crisis.

“The Government says a key test of levelling up is improving living standards, yet they have just made around 5.5 million low-income families £1,040 a year worse off. People’s bills won’t get £87-a-month cheaper from today, in fact they are going up.  Ministers’ arguments in recent days beg the question: has the party that created Universal Credit forgotten the purpose of the system?

“The Prime Minister is abandoning millions to hunger and hardship with his eyes wide open. Low-income families urgently need him to reinstate this vital lifeline.”

Participants in the Covid Realities project responding to the Prime Minister’s comments on the eve of the cut:

“My husband has been in his job for 25 years +, he hasn’t received a pay rise in 5 years and has recently been told there’s no way he will get one anytime soon.

So I’m sorry but there’s no fix there for us. Once again the only option is to struggle and I’m tired of it.” – Emma, England, Covid Realities

“He has no idea how tough it is and how hard people are working to make ends meet!

It is sickness inducing that he completely misses the point that families will either be cold or hungry due to this cut.” – Kim, Wales, Covid Realities

“Fuel and food is on the increase and … families on a low income cannot afford to absorb these costs.

“It is short-sighted to not think of the long term costs involved when already impoverished working families cannot sustain themselves.” – Aurora, England, Covid Realities

“So our prime minister has said he knows it is tough for people on low incomes, does he honestly? … How as parents can we support our children when we are going without food, hungry and unable to concentrate and even sleep at night with worry and stress, do you really understand?

 … I would invite any MP to come and actually experience the day to day drain of living on low income and the impact that has on our mental and physical wellbeing.” – Caroline, Northern Ireland, Covid Realities 

Political consequences:

  • 413 parliamentary constituencies across Great Britain will see over a third of working-age families with children hit by the planned £1,040-a-year cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit.
    • Of these 413 constituencies, 191 are Conservative – 53 of which were newly won at the last general election or in a subsequent by-election.
  • In 35 local authorities across Great Britain, 50% or more of working-age families with children will be impacted by the planned cut.

“THE NASTY PARTY IS WELL AND TRULY BACK”

Edinburgh Pentlands SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald has condemned the £20 a week cut to Universal Credit, which comes into force today. The First Minister of Scotland, the First Minister of Wales and the First Minister of Northern Ireland have also condemned the measure.

The previous week, the Scottish Parliament voted overwhelming to support cancelling the Tory UK Government’s planned £20 a week cut to Universal Credit.

Gordon MacDonald also raised the matter with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Housing and Local Government, Shona Robison seeking information on what representations the Scottish Government has made to the UK Government.

Ms Robison confirmed that the Scottish Government had written to the UK Government on eight separate occasions since March 2020 to ask it to retain the much-needed £20 uplift. In addition on 30 August, Ms Robison joined colleagues from Wales and Northern Ireland to write to the UK Government to urge it to retain the uplift. They are yet to receive a response.

SNP MSP Gordon Macdonald for Edinburgh Pentlands said: “The Scottish Parliament overwhelmingly spoke and demanded the Tory UK Government halts their plans to scrap the uplift to Universal Credit.

“Sadly, we also witnessed every single Tory MSP failing to stand up to their Westminster bosses in opposing the £20 a week cut – the biggest welfare cut since the 1930s at the worst possible time.  Even former Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson and six former Tory DWP Secretary of States, opposed the cut.

“I am standing up for the 32,022 households impacted across Edinburgh, but the Tory Government at Westminster has now implemented their plans that will rip more than £1,000 a year out of the hands of the most vulnerable at a time when they need it most.

I am quite frankly shocked, but not surprised, that the Scottish Tory MSPs not only voted to back the Universal Credit cut which will condemn thousands of families to poverty, but actively defended it – the Nasty Party is well and truly back.

“History will remember them for this – Scottish Tory MSPs are letting down thousands of families and children with this callous cut in favour of propping up their Tory chums in the UK Government who are imposing these policies on the people of Scotland.

“This demonstrates once again how the people of Scotland cannot afford to continue to suffer under Westminster control. We need to have the option of choosing a different path in a referendum which can give us the full powers of independence where we can build a fairer Scotland.”

JRF: The Chancellor may say he has a plan for jobs – but he has no plan for paying the bills

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak made the keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester yesterday. On the week the Tories will cut the £20 Universal Credit lifeline, the Chancellor told the conference:

Whatever it takes.

That phrase, and those press conferences, were my introduction to so many of you as Chancellor.

It was daunting to face such a challenge in my first days in office. And what it also meant is that more than a year has gone by before I had the chance to meet you all properly. And that is why these last few days have been such a joy. Meeting you all face to face and hearing so many of you say to me “Wow, you’re even shorter in real life!”

Nothing can ever prepare you to become Chancellor, especially in recent times. There have been occasions where it really did feel that the world was collapsing. In those moments, there are certain things I fell back on. Yes, my family. Yes, my colleagues. Yes, my tremendous Treasury team.

And yes, the person who made all this possible, the person who delivered a thumping Conservative majority, my friend, our leader, the country’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

But the other thing I fell back on is something we all have in this room. Our values. Our Conservative values.

I believe in some straightforward things.

I believe that mindless ideology is dangerous. I’m a pragmatist. I care about what works, not about the purity of any dogma. I believe in fiscal responsibility. Just borrowing more money and stacking up bills for future generations to pay, is not just economically irresponsible. It’s immoral.

Because it’s not the state’s money. It’s your money.

I believe that the only sustainable route out of poverty comes from having a good job. It’s not just the pounds it puts in your pockets. It’s the sense of worth and self-confidence it gives you. So I will do whatever I can to protect people’s livelihoods, and create new opportunities too.

And when it comes to those new opportunities, I am very much a child of my time. I spent the formative years of my career working around technology companies in California. And I believe the world is at the beginning of a new age of technological progress which can transform jobs, wealth, and transformed lives.

So: pragmatism. Fiscal responsibility. A belief in work. And an unshakeable optimism about the future. This is who I am. This is what I stand for. This is what it will take. And we will do whatever it takes.

Our Plan is Working

And there can be no prosperous future unless it is built on the foundation of strong public finances.

And I have to be blunt with you. Our recovery comes with a cost.

Our national debt is almost 100% of GDP – so we need to fix our public finances. Because strong public finances don’t happen by accident. They are a deliberate choice. They are a legacy for future generations. And a safeguard against future threats.

I’m grateful, and we should all be grateful to my predecessors and their 10 years of sound Conservative management of our economy. They believed in fiscal responsibility. I believe in fiscal responsibility. And everyone in this hall does too.

And whilst I know tax rises are unpopular. Some will even say un-Conservative. I’ll tell you what IS un-Conservative.

Unfunded pledges.

Reckless borrowing.

And soaring debt.

Anyone who tells you that you can borrow more today, and tomorrow will simply sort itself out just doesn’t care about the future.

Yes, I want tax cuts. But in order to do that, our public finances must be put back on a sustainable footing.

Labour’s track record on the public finances speaks for itself.

Since 2010, we’ve had 5 Labour Leaders, 7 Shadow Chancellors and innumerable spending pledges. And in all that time they still haven’t got the message. The British people won’t trust a Party that isn’t serious with their money. That’s why they vote Conservative.

We must never forget that the fundamental economic differences between us and Labour run very deep.

Differences not just about debt and borrowing but about how to deal with the real pressures people face in their lives.

And right now, we are facing challenges to supply chains not just here but right around the world and we are determined to tackle them head on.

But tackling the cost of living isn’t just a political sound bite. It’s one of the central missions of this Conservative government.

Picture this: you’re a young family. You work hard, saving a bit each month. But it’s tough.

You have ambitions for your careers for your children.

You want to give them the best more than you had.

Now you tell me: Is the answer to their hopes and dreams, just to increase their benefits?

Is the answer to tell that young family the economic system is rigged against you, and the only way you stand a chance is to lean ever more on the state?

Be in no doubt, that is the essence of the Labour answer.

Not only does Labour’s approach not work in practice. It is a desperately sad vision for our future.

But there is an alternative. An approach focused on good work, better skills, and higher wages.

An approach that says: ‘Yes, we believe in you. We will help you. And you will succeed.”

And better still, it’s more than words. It’s a plan in action. A Conservative plan and Conference it is working.

We’re giving people the means and opportunities to help themselves

Governments rarely get to set the tests by which they will ultimately be judged.  

And our test is jobs.

Remember, as economies around the world pulled the shutters down, forecasters were predicting unemployment to reach 12%. Millions of people were on the precipice of losing their jobs, their livelihoods, and their homes.

Well, the forecasts were wrong.

The unemployment rate is at less than 5% and falling. That’s lower than France, America, Canada, Italy, and Spain.

And we now have one of the fastest recoveries of any major economy in the world.

Now it wasn’t that the forecasters had bad models No. It’s just their models did not take account of one thing – and that was this Conservative Government. Our will to act and our plan to deliver.

An increased national living wage. The restart programme. Sector based work academies. Doubling work coaches. Job finding support. Traineeships. Apprenticeship incentives. Skills Bootcamps.  And the Prime Minister’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee.  

All things we are doing that won’t just help people but will give them the means and opportunities to help themselves. ‍

Our plan for the future

I believe in good work, better skills, and higher wages.

I believe that every person in this country has the potential to become something greater.

And I know that we, and only we, the Conservative party, are the ones who can make that happen.

And our economy cannot be what we need it to be without the courage, creativity and sheer force of will that each new generation brings.

Yet, at its peak just under 1 in 3 workers under 25 were on furlough. One in three.

That’s one million people who didn’t have the fall back of a career history or a network of contacts, and in many cases hadn’t even moved into their first job.

And so what did we do? We created the Kickstart scheme, up running and working in a matter of months. A landmark programme that is helping young people start exciting new careers.

And thanks to our plan, young people, just like John Chihoro who introduced me today, are starting those new jobs in their thousands.

So to give more young people the same chance as John, I can confirm we are expanding our successful Plan for Jobs into next year.

The Kickstart scheme extra support through the Youth Offer, the Job Entry Targeted Support scheme, and our Apprenticeship Incentives. All extended because we believe in the awesome power of opportunity.

And we are going to make sure that no young person in our country is left without it.

But what we do today means little if we don’t also have a plan for tomorrow.

A plan for the future.

A future economy shaped by the forces of science, technology, and imagination.

The years I spent in California left a lasting mark on me, working with some of the most innovative and exciting people in finance and technology. Watching ideas becoming a reality. Seeing entrepreneurs build new teams.

It’s not just about money.

I saw a culture, a mindset which was unafraid to challenge itself, reward hard work, and was open to all those with the talent to achieve.

The future is here

I look across the United Kingdom and that culture is here too in the young people I’ve already spoken about today, unencumbered by timidity and orthodoxy.

And it’s there in our willingness to take risks not just on companies, but on people.

People with the raw potential to create a wave of the most dynamic high growth companies. A wave that will reach the farthest corners of the world.

That optimism, that unshakeable belief that the future, can be different and better was also at the heart of Brexit.

I remember over five years ago being told that if I backed Brexit my political career would be over before it had even begun.

Well, I put my principles first. And I always will.

I was proud to back Brexit. Proud to back Leave.

And that’s because despite the challenges in the long term, I believed the agility flexibility and freedom provided by Brexit would be more valuable in a 21st century global economy than just proximity to a market.

That in the long term a renewed culture of enterprise willingness to take risks and be imaginative would inspire changes in the way we do things at home.

Brexit was never just about the things we couldn’t do. It was also about the things we didn’t do.

That’s why we introduced the super deduction, a UK first in tax policy which is triggering an explosion in capital investment.

That’s why we created the Help to Grow scheme another UK first to help small and medium sized companies digitize skill up and scale up.

That’s why we launched the Future Fund another UK first in government investment backing high potential start-ups.

My point is this: even if you can’t see it yet, I assure you, the future is here.‍

Now is the time to turn to the future

Last year alone the UK attracted more venture capital investment to our startups than France and Germany combined.

And along with enhanced infrastructure and improved skills, we are going to make this country not just a Science Superpower, not just the best place in the world to do business… I believe we’re going to make the United Kingdom the most exciting place on the planet.

Take Artificial Intelligence. Once the stuff of science fiction. Now it’s reality – and we’re a global leader.

The steam engine kicked off the industrial revolution. Computers delivered automation. The internet brought information exchange.

And as the latest general-purpose technology, AI has the potential to transform whole economies and societies.

If Artificial Intelligence were to contribute just the average productivity increase of those three technologies, that would be worth around £200 billion a year to our economy.

And so today, I am announcing that we will create 2,000 elite AI scholarships for disadvantaged young people and double the number of Turing AI World-Leading Research Fellows, helping to ensure that the most exciting industries and opportunities are open to all parts of our society.

New policy, focused on innovative technology, supporting jobs for the next generation, a sign of our ambition for the future.

Because that’s why we are here. All of us. That’s why we became members of the Conservative party.

That’s why you all give up so much of your time sacrificing things that are important to you in order to help build a better future.

You know, the longer I spend in this job, the more I realise that the worst parts of politics are driven by fear. Fear of change. Fear of losing. The fear of being wrong. Even fear of the future.

And when people get scared they create divisions. They say: “you’re either with us or you’re with them.” But you cannot make progress if you’re pitting people against each other.

That’s what you get from a tired, fearful sort of politics. We saw it last week in Brighton.

It’s not just that Labour don’t like us. They don’t even like each other.

Whereas we, the Conservatives, are now and always will be the party of business and the party of the worker.

The party of the private sector and the public sector.

A party for the old and the young.

The British people want a party that can get things done.

So, at just the moment when it feels like we’ve done enough, that we’ve gotten through, that we can take a rest, we must not stop.

Now is the time to show them that our plan will deliver.

And now is the time, at last, at long last, to finally turn to the future.

Thank you.

Responding to the Chancellor’s speech at Conservative Party Conference, Helen Barnard, Deputy Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “The Chancellor may say he has a plan for jobs but he has no plan for paying the bills.

“He spoke of doing whatever it takes to protect people’s livelihoods, yet he is cutting the incomes of around 5.5 million families by £1,040 a year on Wednesday when we are facing a cost of living crisis.

“It is completely wrong to suggest there is a trade-off between good jobs and adequate social security when they are both essential to improving people’s living standards.”

“This cut will impact many working families and inadequate social security makes it harder for people to seize opportunities whilst they struggle to stay afloat. We must ensure people who are sick, disabled or caring for others and therefore unable to work can meet their needs with dignity.

“To impose the biggest ever overnight cut to social security would be economically irresponsible which is why it is so fiercely opposed from across the political spectrum. The Government can’t credibly claim to be levelling up while levelling down people’s incomes. He must abandon this cut.”

JRF issues stark warning on child poverty targets in key state of the nation report

“It is time for the Scottish Government to stop walking and start running”

The Scottish Government must take urgent action to avoid missing its own child poverty targets by a significant margin, leaving families across the country locked in poverty. The cut to Universal Credit by the UK Government in just two days’ time makes the task more urgent. 

Kicking off Challenge Poverty Week with its annual state of the nation report, Poverty in Scotland 2021, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) paints a picture of poverty levels in Scotland just before the Covid-19 pandemic.

It highlights a failure to make inroads into the significant levels of poverty among the priority groups for action as identified by the Scottish Government, including families from an ethnic minority background, families where someone is disabled, those with a child under the age of one and single parent households.

Key findings for these groups include: 

  • More than 80% of children in poverty are in one of these groups.  
  • 100,000 children in poverty in live in a household where someone is disabled – a shocking 40% of all children in poverty 
  • Children from minority ethnic backgrounds make up 7% of the population yet make up 16% of all children in poverty 
  • Children in two or more priority groups have a much higher poverty rate (36%) than those in one priority group (25%) and nearly three times that of those in no priority group (13%). 

These figures are pre-Covid 19, and much evidence has highlighted the unequal impact the pandemic has had on many of these groups, meaning their current situations could be much worse. This lays bare scale of the challenge facing the Scottish Government if it is to meet its targets and makes clear the need for targeted action to support these groups.  

The report was produced alongside the End Poverty Scotland Group, an advisory group of people from across Scotland with first-hand experience of living on a low income.  

Alex, a member of the advisory group said: ‘If over 80% of children in poverty are still in one of the priority groups, how much of a priority  are we, really?’ 

The findings also highlight the importance of full-time work in reducing poverty in Scotland. 54% of people who are in families where no one is working are in poverty. People in families where someone is working part-time have a poverty rate of 30% while the poverty rate for people in families where at least one person is in full-time work is 10%.  

The desire and need to work was a strong theme from the advisory group, but the inflexibility of childcare provision was highlighted as a consistent barrier. The group expressed deep frustration that in most cases people were trying to create a better life for them and their families, but success was often despite the system rather than because of it.  

The report urges both the Scottish and UK Governments to increase the adequacy of social security in order to drive down poverty levels. 

JRF recommends that the Scottish Child Payment is doubled as soon as possible and that the upcoming Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan must set out a clear and measurable course towards meeting those targets. It must include a far greater scale and pace of activity to support families in the priority groups who are most at risk of poverty. 

The UK Government’s cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax credit in just two days’ time will cut £1,040 per year from the incomes of 450,000 families in Scotland. This cut will increase poverty in Scotland across all groups, not just families with children.

The UK Government is responsible for 85% of social security spending in Scotland and the responsibility for the impact of this cut lies at their door. As well as reversing the cut, the report recommends reform of rules such as the five-week wait for the first payment of Universal Credit, and the two-child limit, which drive destitution and hardship in Scotland as they do in other parts of the UK. 

Chris Birt, Associate Director of JRF in Scotland said: “The Scottish Government has rightly set a national mission to end child poverty and has put in place steps to move us in the right direction. But we are on course to miss our targets by some distance. Such a political failure would have a profound human cost –  tens of thousands more children will experience childhoods blighted by hardship and anxiety. 

“It is time for the Scottish Government to stop walking and start running, by immediately doubling the Scottish Child Payment and by significantly increasing the scale and pace of its programme to support families in priority groups.  The forthcoming Budget and Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan will be crucial in putting us on a path to meeting our targets. 

“All tiers of government must look at the design and cultures that underpin public services. The group of people on low incomes who co-authored the report are clear in the need for a more constructive approach underpinned by kindness and ease of use as well as more accountability to the people who use the systems. 

“The responsibility for the cut to Universal Credit falls squarely at the UK Government’s door.  It is a failure of both compassion and of policy.  Its decision to impose the biggest overnight cut to social security in the history of our welfare state will cause immediate and widespread hardship in Scotland. With reserved powers, comes reserved responsibility.  

“Our social security system should protect people from poverty, but the UK Government is instead choosing to condemn them to it.” 

“Prime Minister is abandoning millions to hunger and hardship with his eyes wide open”

  • Joseph Rowntree Foundation issues a stark warning ahead of the cut to Universal Credit scheduled for 6 October – the same day as the Prime Minister’s speech at Conservative Party Conference.
  • New analysis looks at the impact of the Universal Credit cut by local authority.

On Wednesday, as the Prime Minister delivers his speech to the Conservative Party Conference, his government will be imposing the biggest ever overnight cut to social security. This will reduce the incomes of around 5.5 million families by £1,040 per year.

In the Greater Manchester Combined Authority area – the host city of this year’s Conservative Party Conference – around 312,000 working-age families (26%) are facing this historic cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit.

If the Government presses ahead with the cut, it would:

  • Pull half a million people into poverty, including 200,000 children.
  • Fundamentally undermine the adequacy of our social security system at precisely the moment when families are facing considerable increases in the cost of their energy bills, prices on the shelves are going up and National Insurance is set to rise in April 2022.
  • Reduce the main rate of out-of-work support down to its lowest level in real terms since around 1990 and its lowest ever level as a proportion of average earnings.

The Government themselves have admitted this week that families may struggle to meet basic costs, like food and heating, by increasing the funding available for local authorities to give grants to families in emergency situations.

The support available through their newly announced Household Support Fund is temporary and discretionary and is typically reserved for one-off emergency situations such as a broken fridge. This scheme does not come close to meeting the scale of the challenge facing families.

Who will be impacted by the cut?

New analysis finds that in 35 local authorities across Great Britain 50% or more of working-age families with children will be impacted by the planned cut.

JRF has consistently warned that:

  • Working families make up around 60% of families who will be affected by the cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit.
  • Families with children (particularly single-parent families), those containing someone who is disabled, and Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (‘BAME’) families, will be disproportionately impacted by the reduction in Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit.
  • The cut will have the most severe impact in Yorkshire and the Humber, the North East, North West and West Midlands, although no region will be left unscathed by this decision.

Katie Schmuecker, Deputy Director of Policy & Partnerships at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “The Prime Minister is abandoning millions to hunger and hardship with his eyes wide open. The biggest ever overnight cut to social security flies in the face of the Government’s mission to unite and level up our country.

“When the increase to Universal Credit was introduced, the Chancellor said it was to “strengthen the safety net” – a tacit admission a decade of cuts and freezes had left our social security lifeline to wear thin and threadbare for families in and out of work relying on it. This planned cut would reverse the progress made and leave it wholly inadequate.

“People’s bills won’t get £87-a-month cheaper from Wednesday and families are already anxious about how they will get through a looming cost of living crisis. This decision is set to plunge half a million people into poverty and shows a total disregard for the consequences. The Prime Minister cannot say he has not been warned, he must abandon this cut.”

Table 1: Top 10 Labour and Conservative majority local authorities with the highest percentage of working-age families with children impacted by the cut

Top 10 Labour majority local authorities affectedTop 10 Conservative majority local authorities affected
Local Authority% of all working-age families with children impacted by the cutLocal Authority% of all working-age families with children impacted by the cut 
Newham64Pendle58
Leicester62Walsall53
Manchester61Great Yarmouth52
Bradford61North East Lincolnshire50
Oldham60Southampton49
Birmingham60East Lindsey48
Blackburn with Darwen58Dover45
Kingston upon Hull – City of58North Lincolnshire44
Sandwell58South Holland44
Tower Hamlets58Nuneaton and Bedworth44

Of local authorities with no majority party, with the highest percentages of working-age families with children impacted by the planned cut, Middlesbrough (60%) and Burnley (58%) are both coalition-led councils. Blackpool (57%) is Labour minority and Thanet (55%), Peterborough (55%) and Stoke-on-Trent (55%) are all Conservative minority.

Table 2: Families impacted by £20-per-week reduction to UC/WTC in October 2021

 Family typeFamilies on UC or WTC losing £20 per week in October 2021
Number of families (millions)Proportion of families who lose% of all working-age families of that type who lose
All working-age families5.5100%20%
Families with someone in work3.564%16%
Families without someone in work2.036%33%
Single without children2.342%18%
Couples without children0.610%8%
Single-parent families1.120%61%
Couple-parent families1.528%25%
Families where someone is disabled2.850%35%
Families where no one is disabled2.750%14%
BAME families1.120%25%
Non-BAME families4.480%19%

Source: Microsimulation by JRF using the IPPR Tax and Benefits Microsimulation Model and the OBR’s March 2021 forecasts. Breakdowns may not sum to totals due to rounding.

Making this decision with his eyes wide open:

  • The cut is opposed by six former Conservative Work & Pensions Secretaries, the Northern Research Group of Conservative MPs, the One Nation Group of Conservative MPs, all the devolved administrations, numerous cross-party committees in all nations of the UK. Iain Duncan Smith recently said, “the extra £20 has returned to UC some of the investment that was cut from my original design.”
  • 100 organisations are urging the Prime Minister not to cut Universal Credit. Among the signatories of the joint open letter to the Prime Minister are leading voices on health, education, children, housing, poverty, the economy and other aspects of public policy. (published 2 September)

What does a “very difficult winter” look like for low-income families?

A lower-income couple with two young children where one adult is working full-time is going to need to find an additional £31-a-week to cover the cost of living and falling benefit rates from October, according to new analysis by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

In an interviewyesterday, the Business Secretary warned “it could be a very difficult winter”. This comes amid growing concern across the political spectrum that the rising cost of living is about to put immense strain on low-income families.

If the Government proceeds with cut to Universal Credit as planned, changes to the energy price caps, and inflation means that at the same time this couple family are trying to compensate for the £20-a-week they had before the cut, they will soon need to find an additional:

  • £3 for energy (assuming pre-payment meter)
  • £8 for other living costs

= an additional £11 per week from October.

On top of this, the same family would need to find an extra £2.50 to cover the increase in National Insurance Contributions from April 2022 because of the Health and Social Care levy.

This would mean in total this family may need to find an additional £13.50 per week or £710 per year (around the entire clothing and footwear annual budget for this kind of family) as well as losing £20 a week from Universal Credit. For this family, the extra costs alone equate to around 3.5% of their weekly disposable income.

Peter Matejic, Deputy Director of Evidence & Impact at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Millions of low-income families are incredibly anxious about how on earth they are supposed to make ends meet from next month.

“Ministers rightly recognise this is shaping up to be a very difficult winter, yet there is little sign of them taking the decisive steps that are necessary to avoid real hardship for low-income families.

“The growing concern about the cost of living reinforces why cutting Universal Credit makes absolutely no sense. Social security is a key defence in protecting families from precisely these sorts of economic shocks, but the Government is on course to impose the biggest ever overnight cut to the system and leave families with an inadequate lifeline.

“The Prime Minister urgently needs to keep the £20-a-week increase to Universal Credit in place. Rising child poverty, soaring demand for food banks, people worrying about keeping their homes and covering the cost of bills, flies in the face of uniting and levelling up our country.”

Boris Johnson shuffles his pack

Aces, Knaves or Jokers?

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is reshuffling his Cabinet.

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has been sacked and former Foreign Secretary Domic Raab has paid the price for his role in the Afghanistan withdrawal debacle. Raab is replaced by Liz Truss, while Nadhim Zahawi is also promoted – he takes over at Education.

Robert Jenrick (Housing and Communities) and Robert Buckland (Lord Advocate and Secretary of State for Justice) have left the government.

Further junior ministerial appointments will be announced today, but changes so far (marked with an asterisk) are as follows:

Prime Minister, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, and Minister for the Union

  • Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP

HM Treasury

  • Chancellor of the Exchequer – Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP
  • Chief Secretary to the Treasury – Simon Clarke MP

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Offic8e

  • Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, and Minister for Women and Equalities – Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP *
  • Minister of State in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – Rt Hon Amanda Milling MP
  • Minister of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Minister for Equalities) – Kemi Badenoch MP

Home Office

  • Secretary of State for the Home Department – Rt Hon Priti Patel MP
  • Minister of State – Kit Malthouse MP (jointly with the Ministry of Justice)

Cabinet Office

  • Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office – Rt Hon Stephen Barclay MP
  • Minister of State – The Rt Hon Lord Frost CMG
  • COP26 President – Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP
  • Minister without Portfolio – Rt Hon Oliver Dowden CBE MP *
  • Minister of State – Nigel Adams MP

Ministry of Justice

  • Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor, and Secretary of State for Justice – Rt Hon Dominic Raab MP *
  • Minister of State – Kit Malthouse MP (jointly with the Home Office)

Ministry of Defence

  • Secretary of State for Defence – Rt Hon Ben Wallace MP

Department for International Trade

  • Secretary of State for International Trade, and President of the Board of Trade – Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP

Department of Health and Social Care

  • Secretary of State for Health and Social Care – The Rt Hon Sajid Javid

Department for Work and Pensions

  • Secretary of State for Work and Pensions – Rt Hon Dr Thérèse Coffey MP

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

  • Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng MP
  • Minister of State at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy – Rt Hon Greg Hands MP

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

  • Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government – Rt Hon Michael Gove MP *
  • Minister of State at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, jointly with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Minister for Equalities) – Kemi Badenoch MP

Department for Education

  • Secretary of State for Education – Nadhim Zahawi MP *
  • Minister of State – Michelle Donelan MP

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

  • Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport – Nadine Dorries MP *
  • Minister of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport – Julia Lopez MP

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

  • Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – Rt Hon George Eustice MP
  • Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – Victoria Prentis MP

Department for Transport

  • Secretary of State for Transport – Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP

Northern Ireland Office

  • Secretary of State for Northern Ireland – Rt Hon Brandon Lewis CBE MP

Scotland Office

  • Secretary of State for Scotland – Rt Hon Alister Jack MP

Wales Office

  • Secretary of State for Wales – Rt Hon Simon Hart MP

Office of the Leader of the House of Lords

  • Lord Privy Seal, and Leader of the House of Lords – Rt Hon Baroness Evans of Bowes Park

Office of the Leader of the House of Commons

  • Lord President of the Council, and Leader of the House of Commons – Rt Hon Jacob Rees-Mogg MP

Whips – House of Commons

  • Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip) – Rt Hon Mark Spencer MP

Law Officers

  • Attorney General – Rt Hon Suella Braverman MP

The following have left the government:

  • Rt Hon Gavin Williamson CBE MP – previously Secretary of State for Education
  • Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP – previously Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government
  • Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC MP – previously Lord Chancellor, and Secretary of State for Justice

Yesterday’s announcements coincidentally (?) overshadowed an important Westminster debate on social security and the cut to Universal Credit.

Peter Matejic, Deputy Director of Evidence & Impact at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “No Government committed to levelling up can credibly defend the biggest ever overnight cut to social security.

“As bills are going up, cost of essential items are rising and National Insurance is set to be increased, ministers are ploughing ahead with a damaging cut to Universal Credit which is fiercely opposed across the political spectrum.

“The Government is reportedly planning to ignore its own analysis which shows how catastrophic this cut would be. No good will come of cutting Universal Credit by £20-a-week. All it would do is impose unnecessary hardship on millions of low-income families and hurt the very communities the Government wants to level up.

“Ministers have nothing to say to the many families who are unable to work or are not expected to work due to sickness, disability or caring responsibilities who are facing this massive income shock.

We all need an adequate social security system and, for those who are already in work or looking for a job, a bold Plan for Jobs, if we are to improve living standards. The Prime Minister knows this and it’s not too late for him to keep this vital lifeline strong.”

Helen Barnard, Deputy Director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said: “Today’s debate makes clear that the Prime Minister and Chancellor are increasingly isolated in supporting the cut to Universal Credit.

“There is widespread concern amongst MPs about the devastating impact this will have on huge numbers of their constituents and new ministers are certain to face intense pressure from families anxious about how they will make ends meet from next month.

“The £20-a-week increase to Universal Credit is vital to protect families from poverty and provide the stability they need to improve their prospects.

“As energy bills go up, prices on the shelves rise and National Insurance is set to increase, the Prime Minister must urgently keep this support in place, or his premiership risks being defined by plunging people into poverty rather than levelling up.”

Health and Social Care: Johnson bites the bullet

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s statement at yesterday’s press conference on health and social care:

Good afternoon, I’m joined by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, because today we’re setting out our plan to help our NHS recover from the pandemic and build back better by fixing the problems in health and social care that governments have avoided for decades.

We all know someone whose test, scan or hip replacement was delayed or who helped to protect the NHS amid the immense pressures of Covid by putting off treatment for a new medical condition.

And now, as people come forward again, we need to pay for those missed operations and treatments; we need to pay good wages for the 50,000 extra nurses we are recruiting, we need to go beyond the record funding we’ve already provided to the NHS, and that means going further than the 48 hospitals and 50 million more GP appointments.

So today, following the most successful vaccine programme in the world, we’re beginning the biggest catch-up programme in the history of the NHS, increasing hospital capacity by 110 per cent, and enabling 9 million more appointments, scans and operations.

I have to level with people – waiting lists will get worse before they get better, but compared with before Covid, by 2024/25 our plan will allow the NHS to aim to treat 30 per cent more patients who need elective care – like knee replacements or cancer screening.

A recovery on this scale cannot be delivered by cheese-paring budgets elsewhere and it would be irresponsible to cover a permanent increase in health and social care spending with higher day to day borrowing.

For more than 70 years, we’ve lived by the principle that everyone pays for the NHS through our taxes, so it’s there for all of us when we need it.

In that spirit, from April we will have a new UK-wide 1.25 per cent Health and Social Care Levy on earned income, with the money required by law to go directly to health and social care across the whole of our United Kingdom, and with dividends rates increasing by the same amount.

This will raise almost £36 billion over the next three years, not just funding more care but better care, including better screening equipment to diagnose cancer earlier and digital technologies allowing doctors to monitor patients in their homes.

The levy will share the cost as fairly as possible between people and businesses: because we all benefit from a well-supported NHS and all businesses benefit from a healthy workforce.

And those who earn more will pay more, including those who continue to work over the State Pension Age.

The highest earning 14 per cent of the population will pay around half of the revenue raised; no-one earning less than £9,568 will pay a penny, and most small businesses will be protected, with 40 per cent paying nothing extra at all.

And this new investment will go alongside vital reform, because we learned from the pandemic that we can’t fix the NHS unless we also fix social care.

When Covid struck, there were 30,000 hospital beds in England occupied by people who would have been better cared for elsewhere, and the inevitable consequence was that patients could not get the hip operations or cancer treatment or whatever other help they needed.

And those people were often in hospital because they feared the costs of care in a residential home.

If you suffer from cancer or heart disease, the NHS will cover the costs of your treatment in full.

But if you develop Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, then you have to pay for everything above a very low threshold.

Today, 1 in 7 of us can expect to face care costs exceeding £100,000 in our later years, and millions more live in fear that they could be among that 1 in 7.

Suppose you have a house worth £250,000 and you’re in a care home for eight years, then once you’ve paid your bills, you could be left with just £14,000 after a lifetime of work, effort and saving – having sacrificed everything else – everything that you would otherwise have passed on to your children – simply to avoid the indignity of suffering.

So we are doing something that, frankly, should have been done a long time ago, and share the risk of these catastrophic care costs, so everyone is relieved of that fear of financial ruin.

We’re setting a limit to what people will ever have to pay, regardless of assets or income.

In England, from October 2023, no-one starting care will pay more than £86,000 over their lifetime.

Nobody with assets of less than £20,000 will have to pay anything at all, and anyone with assets between £20,000 and £100,000 will be eligible for means-tested support.

And we’ll also address the fear many have about how their parents or grandparents will be looked after.

We’ll invest in the quality of care, and in carers themselves, with £500 million going to hundreds of thousands of new training places, mental health support for carers and improved recruitment, making sure that caring is a properly respected profession in its own right.

And we’ll integrate health and social care in England so that all elderly and disabled people are looked after with the dignity they deserve.

No Conservative Government wants to raise taxes, but nor could we in good conscience meet the cost of this plan simply by borrowing the money and imposing the burden on future generations.

So I will be absolutely frank with you: this new levy will break our manifesto commitment, but a global pandemic wasn’t in our manifesto either, and everyone knows in their bones that after everything we’ve spent to protect people through that crisis, we cannot now shirk the challenge of putting the NHS back on its feet, which requires fixing the problem of social care, and investing the money needed.

So we will do what is right, reasonable and fair, we’ll make up the Covid backlogs, we’ll fund more nurses and, I hope, we will remove the anxiety of millions of families up and down the land by taking forward reforms that have been delayed for far too long.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s statement on health and social care, delivered on 7 September 2021

Good afternoon.

I want to address straight away the following question:

Why do we need to raise taxes?

Three reasons.

First, we need to properly fund the NHS as we recover from the pandemic.

Senior NHS leaders have made clear that without more funding we will not properly be able to address the significant backlog…

…in people’s cancelled operations, delayed treatments, or missed diagnoses.

To get everyone the care they need is going to take time – and it is going to take money.

The second reason is that social care plans announced today have created an expanded safety net.

Instead of individuals having to bear the financial risks of catastrophic care costs themselves, we as a country are deciding to share more of that risk collectively.

This is a permanent, new role for the Government.

And as such we need a permanent, new way to fund it.

The only alternative would be to borrow more indefinitely.

But that would be irresponsible at a time when our national debt is already the highest it has been in peacetime.

And it would be dishonest – borrowing more today just means higher taxes tomorrow.

The third reason we need to raise taxes is to fund the Government’s vision for the future of health and social care.

Properly funded, we can tackle not just the NHS backlog and expand the social care safety net, we can afford the nurses pay rise;

Invest in the newest, most modern equipment;

Prepare for the next pandemic;

And provide one of the largest investments ever to upskill social care workers.

In other words, we can build the modern, more efficient health and social care services the British public deserves.

To fund this vital spending, we will introduce a new UK-wide Health and Social Care Levy.

From next April, we will ask businesses, employees and the self-employed to pay an extra 1.25% on earnings.

All the money we raise will be legally ringfenced, which means every pound from the Levy will go directly to health and social care.

The Levy is the best way to raise the funds we need.

It is fair: the more you earn, the more you pay.

It is honest: it is not a stealth tax or borrowed – the Levy will be there in black and white on people’s payslips.

And it is UK-wide, so people in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will all pay the same amount.

To make sure everyone pays their fair share, we will also increase dividend tax rates by the same amount.

And, from 2023, people over the age of 66 will be asked to pay the Levy on their earnings too.

No Government wants to have to raise taxes.

But these are extraordinary times and we face extraordinary circumstances.

For more than 70 years, it has been an article of faith in this country that our national health service should be free at the point of use, funded by general taxation.

If we are serious about defending this principle in a post-Covid world …

… we have to be honest with ourselves about the costs that brings …

… and be prepared to take the difficult and responsible decisions to meet them.

Thank you.

PM Boris Johnson’s letter to the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland on the new health and social care reform:

National Insurance Contributions increase ‘adds insult to injury’ for families facing devastating cut to Universal Credit

New Joseph Rowntree Foundation analysis estimates that around 2 million families on low incomes who receive Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit will pay on average around an extra £100 per year in National Insurance contributions under the Government’s proposed changes.  

Peter Matejic, Deputy Director of Evidence & Impact at JRF said: “We are concerned that around two million families on low incomes who receive Universal Credit or Working Tax Credit will pay on average around an extra £100 per year in national insurance contributions under the Government’s proposal. 

“This extra cost adds insult to injury for these families who are facing a historic £1,040 cut to their annual incomes when Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit are reduced in less than a month on 6 October. If it presses ahead, this Government will be responsible for the single biggest overnight cut to social security ever.  

“With inflation rising, the cost of living going up and an energy price rise coming in October, many struggling families are wondering how on earth they will be expected to make ends meet from next month. 

“The Chancellor is in denial if he seriously believes this cut will not impose unnecessary hardship on millions of families – the majority of whom are in low-paid work. 

“Any MP who is concerned about families on low incomes must urge the Prime Minister and Chancellor to reverse this damaging cut, which will have an immediate and devastating impact on their constituents’ living standards in just a few weeks’ time.”

RCEM welcomes Government funding, but warns it won’t be enough

Responding to the announcement of an extra £5.4 billion of funding for the NHS, Dr Katherine Henderson, President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “The announcement of this additional funding for the NHS over the next six months is very welcome.

“It comes at a crucial time when the health service enters what will likely be its most challenging winter ever, as it exits the pandemic, seeks to recover the elective backlog and faces the worst ever levels of performance in the summer.

“It is particularly welcome to see the investment in improving infection prevention control measures in hospitals, as this will continue to be of the utmost importance in the coming months. It is also pleasing to see funding to continue to improve the timely discharge of hospital patients. It is vital for Emergency Care that there is good flow throughout the hospital, which includes making sure patients have a smooth discharge from the hospital.

“While this short-term funding is appreciated, there must also be an adequate response to the sharp increase in demand and equivalent deterioration in performance. It is unlikely that this funding will be enough to help enable longer term recovery.

“The challenges that our Emergency Departments face stem from workforce shortages and capacity issues. A shortage of beds can lead to crowding, corridor care and poor flow through the hospital. Workforce shortages spread existing staff thinly and put them under severe pressure.

“These are long term issues and the only way to tackle them will be via a long-term funding plan for the health service, including a workforce plan to recruit nurses and doctors by expanding student medical and nursing places and training places.”

Dr Katherine Henderson, commenting on the announcement of a three-year settlement for health and social care, continued: “The three-year funding settlement announced for health and social care is welcome.

“But the scale of the challenges faced across the health and social care service at a crucial time of recovery mean this will likely not be enough – and the government must be realistic in the colossal task ahead for the health and social care service. It is essential that a plan to address the workforce crisis is prioritised.

“It is also welcome to see the long overdue the first steps towards a plan for social care. There has been a crisis within social care for some time, so it will be good to see the government fulfil its pledge to reform and tackle the social care crisis.

“For that to happen, it is vital that an adequate proportion of the settlement is allocated to social care.”

Commenting on Tuesday’s social care announcement by the Prime Minister, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “We need a social care system that delivers high-quality care and high-quality employment. 

“New funding for social care is long overdue. But today’s announcement will have been deeply disappointing both to those who use care, and to those who provide it. 

“The Prime Minister promised us a real plan for social care services, but what we got was vague promises of money tomorrow. 

“Care workers need to see more pay in their pockets now. Nothing today delivered that. Instead, the only difference it will make to low-paid care staff is to push up their taxes. 

“This is so disappointing after the dedication care workers have shown during this pandemic keeping services running and looking after our loved ones. 

“Proposals to tax dividends should have been just once piece in a plan to tax wealth, not an afterthought to a plan to tax the low-paid workers who’ve got us through the pandemic. 

“We know social care needs extra funding. But the prime minister is raiding the pockets of low-paid workers, while leaving the wealthy barely touched. 

“We need a genuine plan that will urgently tackle the endemic low pay and job insecurity that blights the social care sector – and is causing huge staff shortages and undermining the quality of care people receive.” 

The TUC published proposals on Sunday to fund social care and a pay rise for the workforce by increasing Capital Gains Tax. 

The union body says increasing tax on dividends is a welcome first step to reforming the way we tax wealth, but that it won’t generate the revenue needed to deliver a social care system this country deserves. 

Instead, by taxing wealth and assets at the same level as income tax, the government could raise up to £17bn a year to invest in services and give all care staff a minimum wage of £10 an hour. 

TUC analysis shows that seven in 10 social care workers earn less than £10 an hour and one in four are on zero-hours contracts. 

Polling published on Sunday by the TUC showed that eight in 10 working adults – including seven in 10 Conservative voters – support a £10 minimum wage for care workers. 

A Fairer, Greener Scotland?

First Minister lays out her Programme for Government 2021/22

Leading Scotland safely out of the pandemic, urgently confronting climate change, driving a green, fair economic recovery, and boosting opportunities for children and young people are among the core priorities in this year’s Programme for Government (PfG), published yesterday. Oh … and there’s a referendum in there, too …

The programme sets out plans for a record increase in frontline health spending, new legislation for a National Care Service, a system providing low-income families with free childcare before and after school and during holidays, and actions to drive forward Scotland’s national mission to end child poverty.

The programme also includes plans to help secure a just transition to net zero – creating opportunities for new, good and green jobs, making homes easier and greener to heat, and encouraging people to walk, wheel or cycle instead of driving.

Speaking in Parliament, the First Minister said: “This programme addresses the key challenges Scotland faces, and aims to shape a better future.

“It sets out how we will tackle the challenge of Covid, and rebuild from it. It outlines how we will address the deep-seated inequalities in our society. It shows how we will confront with urgency the climate emergency, in a way that captures maximum economic benefit. And it details the steps we will take to mitigate, as far as we can, the damaging consequences of Brexit while offering a better alternative.

“In the face of these challenges, our ambition must be bold. This programme sets out clear plans to lead Scotland out of the greatest health crisis in a century and transform our nation and the lives of those who live here.

“We will deliver a National Care Service; double the Scottish Child Payment; and invest in affordable, energy efficient homes and green travel. We will ensure that businesses have the support, and people have the skills, to succeed in the low carbon economy of the future. We will show global leadership in tackling the climate crisis. And we will offer people an informed choice on Scotland’s future.

“To that end, I can confirm that the Scottish Government will now restart work on the detailed prospectus that will guide the decision. The case for independence is a strong one and we will present it openly, frankly and with confidence and ambition.

“This programme addresses our current reality, but it also looks forward with confidence and ambition to a brighter future. It recognises that out of the many challenges we currently face, a better Scotland – as part of a better world – is waiting to be built.”

Building on the progress from the first 100 days of this government, with the co-operation agreement with the Scottish Green Party at its heart, the PfG sets the scene for the next five years.

Key commitments for over the course of this Parliament include:

  • increasing frontline health spending by 20%, leading to an increase of at least £2.5 billion by 2026-27
  • undertaking the biggest public service reform since the founding of the NHS – the creation of a National Care Service – with legislation brought forward by June next year
  • improving national wellbeing with increased direct mental health investment of at least 25%, with £120 million this year to support the recovery and transformation of services
  • investing £250 million to tackle the drugs deaths emergency over the next five years
  • expanding the Scottish Child Payment to under-16s by the end of next year and doubling it to £20 a week as soon as possible after that, with a £520 bridging payment given to every child in receipt of free school meals this year
  • investing a further £1 billion to tackle the poverty-related attainment gap and providing councils with funding to recruit 3,500 additional teachers and 500 classroom assistants
  • providing free childcare to low income families before and after school and during holidays, and expanding free early learning and childcare to one and two year olds
  • investing £100 million over the next three years to support frontline services for preventing violence against women and girls
  • providing £1.8 billion to make homes easier and greener to heat, as part of a commitment to decarbonise 1 million homes by 2030
  • ensuring that at least 10% of the total transport budget goes on active travel by 2024-25, helping more people to cycle, wheel or walk instead of drive
  • delivering a revolution in children’s rights, including across the justice system
  • supporting a just transition to a low-carbon economy for people and businesses, including a £500 million Just Transition Fund for the North East and Moray
  • investing an additional £500 million to support the new, good and green jobs of the future, including by helping people access training
  • delivering 110,000 affordable homes by 2032 and investing an additional £50 million to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping
  • taking forward the democratic mandate for a referendum on independence to be held within this Parliament and, if the Covid crisis is over, within the first half of this Parliament, while providing the people of Scotland with the information they need to make an informed choice on their future.

Programme for Government 2021-22

First Minister statement to the Scottish Parliament, 7 September 2021

Commenting on yesterday’s Programme for Government announcement, Chris Birt, Associate Director for Scotland at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said: “Alarm bells should already be ringing in both the Scottish Government and Parliament that we are currently set to miss our child poverty targets, with no clear plan on how to achieve them. 

“The Programme for Government published today pushes that plan further down the road, both to the budget later in the year and next year’s Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan. 

“Time is running out on the targets. Families on low incomes across Scotland are experiencing growing financial pressure and uncertainty .  They will hope the commitment to double the child payment “sooner rather than later” happens very soon and that our national mission to end child poverty gathers urgency and scale.”

The STUC welcomed the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government, specifically highlighting the commitments from the First Minister to implement national bargaining in the care sector, additional funding for the health service, gender recognition reform and justice for Scotland’s miners wrongfully arrested in the 1980s.

STUC General Secretary, Roz Foyer said: “Reform of our care sector cannot come quick enough and the STUC will engage fully in this legislation, campaigning for a National Care Service based on sectoral collective bargaining and not for profit delivery.

“The commitment of the First Minister to National Bargaining is therefore very welcome. However, the £800 million additional funding announced over the course of the Parliament is less than a quarter of the expenditure which the Feeley Review said was necessary for the social care sector.

“Yet we still have concerns that the Programme of Government tries too hard be all things to all people. It is simply not credible to raise the levels of investment required to tackle climate change, reduce inequality and create jobs while at the same time boasting about the lowest business taxes in UK and freezing income tax rates for the duration of the Parliament.

“The same lack of ambition is reflected in today’s Scottish Government response to the report of the Just Transition Commission which leaves much to be desired on future job creation and ensuring the burden of climate change is not carried by workers and the less well off.

“Fighting discrimination and inequality is at the heart of trade unions, we know trans people are some of the most disadvantaged and discriminated people in Scotland and the gender recognition bill is therefore extremely welcome in enabling trans people to access their human rights.

“Finally, I welcome the proposed Miners’ Strike Pardon Bill. It has been all too clear for decades that the miners were the victims of a politically inspired political attack and that organs of the state, including the police, were used to repress their legitimate industrial action.

“This Bill will help provide some relief to the thousands of lives were wrecked by wrongful arrest and is a testament to years of campaigning by working class families who refused to give up.”

GMB Scotland Secretary Louise Gilmour said: “The need to tackle the crisis in care is accepted, but the challenge is to end years of exploitation by giving care workers substantial pay increases. That’s how we’ll confront the understaffing crisis and transform the sector.

“It’s why GMB is campaigning for £15 an hour minimum for care workers. The prospect of staff remaining mired in wages of just under or over £10 an hour isn’t credible. 

“And there is a growing consensus supporting that view, including among Cabinet Secretaries as the Greens committed to a £15 minimum in their recent manifesto, so we need to make it happen. 

“If we are prepared to be bold and deliver proper value for workers across the social care sector then there is a huge opportunity to be grasped, everyone will benefit and Scotland will be fairer for it.” 

Joanne Smith, policy and public affairs manager for NSPCC Scotland, said: “Recovery and reform are very much needed as we move forward from the pandemic, and this year’s Programme for Government is the first step in this journey.  

“For children in Scotland to have the best start in life, it is vital that all families can access holistic support, where and when they need it, and so we are heartened by the Scottish Government’s announcement of a Whole Family Wellbeing Fund.

“In line with the Promise’s recommendations we would like to see that national spending prioritises early, preventative support for families, therefore stripping out demand for crisis-led services.

“We are also greatly encouraged by the Scottish Government’s commitment to review and redesign the Children’s Hearing System. Through our work with very young children and families in Glasgow, we see the limitations of current justice processes in meeting the distinct needs of infants and their families.

“Given that around a third of children who come into care in Scotland are under the age of five, we need to ensure justice processes are better aligned with infants’ developmental timescales. We look forward to working alongside the Review team to ensure that the rights of infants are upheld throughout the process.”

Mary Glasgow Chief Executive of the charity Children 1st said:  “Today’s Programme for Government has rightly prioritised the right of children and their families to know they can access the help and support they need whenever they need it.  

“Children 1st have long called for a transformation in the support available to families, which must be based on learning from the – often difficult – experiences of children and their families when they have needed practical, emotional or financial help.

“The proposed £500m investment in a ‘Whole Family Wellbeing Fund’ is a hugely welcome step forward and we are committed to working alongside children and their families, and the Scottish Government, to turn this significant investment into practical action.” 

Tracy Black, CBI Scotland Director, said: “With Glasgow hosting COP26 later this year, the Scottish Government is right to focus on its plans for a net zero economy. Yet given the need to cement Scotland’s economic recovery post-pandemic, businesses will feel there ought to have been a greater focus on boosting growth. While there were encouraging mentions of greater access to finance, the devil will be in the detail.

“Firms are already decarbonising their operations, and, by working alongside government, can help urgently transform net zero ambitions into action. Reforming the planning and business rates systems – enabling much needed in investment in low carbon infrastructure – would help achieve ambitious climate targets.  

“The First Minister is also right to highlight that COVID hasn’t gone away. Scottish firms have worked tirelessly throughout the crisis to keep staff and customers safe. Businesses are not calling for a rushed return to the workplace, though employers will rightly be speaking with their employees about a gradual return in line with the latest guidance.

“As the economy reopens, skills shortages remain a key concern, so employers will be frustrated not to hear more about plans for upskilling and retraining.

“Business investment is absolutely vital to Scotland’s economic recovery, and the government should do everything in its power to attract – not repel – investment and the very best talent. Ultimately, by working more closely with business to create sustainable economic growth, ministers will be able to achieve their goals of improving people’s living standards and public services.”

Cancel the Cut: ONE HUNDRED organisations urge Prime Minister not to cut Universal Credit

The largest coalition of organisations to date on this issue has signed a joint open letter to the Prime Minster calling on him not to go ahead with the planned £20-a-week cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit, due to come into effect on 6 October.

The joint letter, coordinated by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, is signed by a wide range of 100 organisations that operate at a national level as well as in communities across the UK. Among the signatories are leading voices on health, education, children, housing, poverty, the economy and other aspects of public policy.

OPEN LETTER

Dear Prime Minister,

We are writing to collectively urge you not to go ahead with the planned £20-a-week cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit at the beginning of October.

Many of us provide frontline support in communities up and down our country and see first-hand the importance of our social security system. Life is full of crises that we cannot plan for, such as job loss or illness, and periods of lower earnings or caring responsibilities. We all need the security and stability of a strong lifeline, not just during a national crisis, but every day.

Imposing what is effectively the biggest overnight cut to the basic rate of social security since World War II will pile unnecessary financial pressure on around 5.5 million families, both in and out of work.

At the start of the pandemic, the Chancellor rightly said that he was introducing the £20 increase to “strengthen the safety net” – a tacit admission that a decade of cuts and freezes had left it unfit to provide the support families need. We all strongly supported this crucial improvement in support.

We are at risk of repeating the same mistakes that were made after the last economic crisis, where our country’s recovery was too often not felt by people on the lowest incomes. The erosion of social security support was one of the main drivers of the rise in in-work and child poverty, and contributed to a soaring need for food banks, rising debt and worsening health inequalities.

We deeply regret that the Department for Work & Pensions has not published its assessment on the impact of cutting Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit. However, the latest independent analysis from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) shows it risks plunging 500,000 people into poverty, including 200,000 children. It will take the main rate of out of work support down to its lowest levels in real terms since around 1990.

This is not a question of having to choose between a recovery based on getting people into jobs or investing in social security, in fact most families impacted by this cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit are already in work. The reality of the UK labour market means that to improve living standards, we need to both improve job quality and strengthen the social security system. We also must never lose sight of the need to provide adequate support to families who are not able to work so they can meet their needs with dignity.

Six former Conservative Work & Pensions Secretaries believe previous cuts to social security spending went too far and oppose this cut, and your own Conservative MPs are warning that it will have deep and far-reaching effects in their constituencies.

Recent analysis from JRF shows that 413 parliamentary constituencies across Great Britain will see over a third of working-age families with children hit by the planned cut to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit on 6 October 2021. Of these 413 constituencies, 191 are Conservative – 53 of which were newly won at the last general election or in a subsequent by-election.

This looming cut would fundamentally undermine the Government’s mission to level up. Citizens Advice has identified that people are one and a half times more likely to claim Universal Credit in places the Government has prioritised for levelling up investment. They also found for every £1 that could be invested from the Levelling Up Fund in England, £1.80 would be taken from these local economies if the Government presses ahead.

Furthermore, it is unacceptable that legacy benefits, such as Employment and Support Allowance, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Income Support, continue to be excluded from this crucial improvement in support, mostly impacting people who are sick, disabled or carers. 

We are rapidly approaching a national crossroads which will reveal the true depth of the Government’s commitment to improving the lives of families on the lowest incomes.

We all want a social security system that supports families to escape poverty rather than pulling them deeper into it. However, this cut risks causing immense, immediate, and avoidable hardship. A strong social security system is a crucial first step to building back better. We strongly urge you to make the right decision.

Yours sincerely,

Action For Children

Advice NI

APLE Collective

The Association of Charitable Organisations

Become

Bevan Foundation

The Big Issue

Bright Blue

The British Association of Social Workers

British Psychological Society

Business in the Community

Carers UK

Caritas Social Action Network

Centre for Cities

Centrepoint

Child Poverty Action Group

Children England

Christians Against Poverty

Church Action on Poverty

Citizens Advice

Citizens Advice Scotland

Citizens UK

Communities that Work

Crisis

Disability Benefits Consortium (a network of over 100 disability organisations)

Employment Related Services Association (ERSA)

End Child Poverty Coalition

End Furniture Poverty

The Equality Trust

The Faculty of Public Health

Family Fund

Feeding Britain

The Food Foundation

Generation Rent

Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families

Greater Manchester Poverty Action

The Health Foundation

Homeless Link

The Hygiene Bank

Independent Food Aid Network

Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR)

Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Jubilee Debt Campaign

Learning and Work Institute

Little Village

Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales

Macmillan Cancer Support

Mental Health Foundation

Mind

Money Advice Trust

The MS Society

National AIDS Trust

National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT)

National Children’s Bureau

National Education Union

National Housing Federation

National Residential Landlords Association

National Survivor User Network

Neighbourly

New Economics Foundation

North East Child Poverty Commission

Northern Housing Consortium

Octavia

One Parent Families Scotland

Oxfam GB

PlaceShapers

Policy in Practice

The Poverty Alliance

The Poverty Truth Community

Rethink Mental Illness

RNIB (Royal National Institute of Blind People)

RNID

The Robertson Trust

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

Royal College of Psychiatrists

Royal Society for Public Health

The Runnymede Trust

The Salvation Army

Save the Children

Scope

Scottish Out of School Care Network

Shelter

St Mungo’s

Standard Life Foundation

StepChange

Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming

SVP Northern Ireland

Transforming Lives for Good (TLG)

The Trussell Trust

Trust for London

TUC (Trades Union Congress)

Turn2us

UCL Institute of Health Equity

UK Women’s Budget Group

Women’s Regional Consortium Northern Ireland

Working Families

Young Lives vs Cancer

Young Women’s Trust

Z2K

4in10 London’s Child Poverty Network