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Thank
you for that welcome…
And can
I welcome my mum.
You saw
her in that video…
… and
she is here with us today for her first conference.
Twenty
years ago,
Mum
thought it was a big deal
when
she watched the first Asians move into Coronation Street,
here in
Manchester.
Well,
now she’s watched as the first Asians move into Downing Street.
Once
again, we’re living above the shop…
And I’m
so happy to make her proud.
It
might be my mum’s first Tory conference…
… but
I’ve now been coming for thirty years.
Every
year, we talk about what is at stake for our country.
But
never in my lifetime has there been a political moment like this.
We will
be remembered for how we respond.
And we
will do our duty.
Responsibly,
firmly, and democratically.
That
starts with getting Brexit done.
We are
leaving the European Union.
It’s
not a matter of if –
it’s a
matter of days.
31 days
–
deal,
or no deal.
We
understand
that
preparing to leave without a deal is not only
the
responsible thing to do…
… but
also the best way of leaving with a deal.
In all
my years negotiating multibillion pound international deals…
… I
never once walked into a room without being able to walk away.
That’s
why on my first day as Chancellor
I gave
a speech to the Treasury…
…
about making No Deal preparations my top priority.
A few
days later I doubled funding for it…
…
taking our Brexit spending to a total of £4 billion this year.
And to
give organisations and Devolved Administrations extra certainty for the year
ahead, in the event of No Deal…
…I have
now agreed to guarantee all £4.3 billion of EU-directed funding that they would
have been expecting.
That
doesn’t mean that a No Deal would be without significant challenges.
I know
that some businesses and households are concerned
about
what a No Deal outcome might mean for them.
I
recognise that.
And I
understand that the uncertainty around Brexit is challenging.
But our
step-change in preparations has made a Deal outcome more likely…
…and a
No Deal outcome more manageable.
Every
department now has the resources available to prepare for No Deal.
That means more Border Force staff…
Better transport infrastructure at our ports…
More support for business readiness.
I’ve tasked the Treasury with preparing a comprehensive economic
response
to support the economy.
Working closely with the Bank of England…
… we’re ready to draw on the full armoury of economic policy if needed.
And the Bank has already revised its assessments because of the actions
we’ve
taken.
Deal or No Deal: We will be ready.
All
that is important –
but
Brexit is not just something to manage or mitigate.
We
understand this is ultimately a question of trust in democracy.
A strong economy can only be built on the foundation of a successful
democracy.
And by definition, democracy isn’t just for when it
suits you.
Like
the Lib Dems – who called for a referendum for years.
Then
sort of changed their mind.
Then
said they’d respect the result.
Then
sort of didn’t.
Then
called for a second vote.
Then
changed their mind again…
… and
now want to somehow pretend the whole thing never happened.
Going
back on our promises to the British people isn’t “liberal”.
And it
certainly isn’t democratic.
And
then there’s the Labour Party.
They’re
so split down the middle…
… that
even their leader and their Shadow Chancellor don’t agree
on
whether they support Brexit.
So
they’ll hold another referendum with two options:
perhaps,
and maybe.
What a
leader.
A man
for the many Brexit positions, not the few.
What
they don’t seem to understand is that millions of people voted in good faith
over three years ago.
The
biggest democratic exercise in our country’s history.
And
they always forget one group of those voters:
The
millions who voted not to leave the EU…
… but
now completely respect the result and want us to get Brexit done.
Yes,
there are splits of opinion,
and
strong views on all sides.
I
passionately believe that we need to heal the divisions in our society.
But the
way to do that isn’t to carry on arguing about Brexit forever and ever.
It is
to finally deliver on the original decision…
… and
move the whole country forward.
People
talk a lot about the risks of Brexit.
Some
understandable, some not.
But the
truth is this:
and it
isn’t acknowledged as often as it should be…
The
most reckless course of all would be to not deliver Brexit at all.
If we
fail to deliver on the instruction of the British people…
…we are
in danger of tearing the very fabric of our democracy.
A
fabric that has been carefully woven together over centuries.
And if
we do that,
I fear
we may not be able to stitch it up again.
If
people are going to have faith in the ballot box…
… we
absolutely have to follow through on that vote.
No more
second-guessing
No best
of three.
One
vote.
One
mandate.
One
nation, moving forwards together.
As we
get Brexit done and leave the EU…
… it’s
the right time to ask ourselves some big questions:
Who are
we as a country?
How do
we see ourselves in the years ahead?
How
will we shape our economy for the future?
Last
week we saw Labour’s answers to those questions.
Jeremy
Corbyn sees this as an opportunity to bring in nationalisation, protectionism
and state control.
Let’s
be in no doubt about the biggest threat to the UK economy.
Whenever I speak to businesses and international investors…
… the number one concern they always raise is not
the form of our exit from
the EU.
The real “project” to be fearful about is the
agenda of the Labour Party.
If they
had their way,
whole
sectors of the economy would be renationalised.
People’s
taxes would rise to the crippling levels of the past.
People’s
jobs would be put at risk with sectoral pay bargaining.
The
return of trade union militancy would once again hold the government to ransom…
…wasting
hundreds of billions of pounds…
…and
hitting families and businesses around the country.
The
British Chambers of Commerce said last week that Labour’s plans will:
“send
an icy chill up the spines of business-owners and investors”.
And
it’s no wonder.
We have
a Shadow Chancellor who says businesses are “the real enemy”…
… and
openly admits he wants to overthrow capitalism.
Given
how much damage they’d do every single day they’re in office…
I’m
glad they say they would only be working four days a week.
You
know, when I arrived at the Treasury…
… I did
have a letter on my desk waiting for me…
… but
it didn’t say there was no money left.
That’s
because we took the difficult decisions needed to get the deficit down by
four-fifths.
We have
now taken back control of our financial destiny…
… just
as we take back control of our laws and borders.
It’s
easy to forget how bad things were when we first came in.
Labour
lost control of our public finances – as they always do. …
And
this was when they still believed in the basics of capitalism.
Our
country borrowed £150 billion in their last year in office…
…the
highest level in our peacetime history.
And it
fell to the Conservatives once again to wipe up Labour’s mess.
And I’d
like to pay tribute to both my immediate predecessors…
… for
their role in that.
We may
disagree on our approach on Brexit…
… but
as Conservatives we can be very proud of what they helped us to achieve.
Labour
left behind a bankrupt Britain – and we’ve fixed it.
They
don’t like to hear it.
But
when the opposition stop hiding from that election…
… I
promise you, it won’t be like last time.
We
won’t shy away from talking about our hard-earned record on the economy.
And we
won’t shy away from telling everyone…
… about
the threat their divisive…
…
backwards…
…
bankrupt…
…immoral,
incompetent, ideological experiments…
will
pose to everyone’s way of life.
They
try to claim the only alternative is a race to the bottom.
Letting
everyone fend for themselves.
That’s
not our conservatism.
I’m not
sure it’s anyone’s.
We are
forging ahead with our positive, One Nation vision for our country’s future.
We
believe in levelling up, skilling-up, and opening up.
Embracing
talent from around the world.
And as
we look towards a future outside the EU…
…I’m
very optimistic we can build on our extraordinary economic strengths…
… and
reshape the British economy to seize the opportunities that this new
chapter
has to offer.
We’ll
be able to pursue a genuinely independent trade policy.
We’ll
be able to replace inefficient EU programmes with better, home-grown
alternatives.
And
from retail to green tech, we’ll have the opportunity to design smarter,
more
flexible regulation.
To help
us do that, I will launch a Brexit Red Tape Challenge…
…to
help identify EU regulations that we can improve or remove.
Liberating
our entrepreneurs, small businesses and consumers….
… from
the burden of over-bearing bureaucracy, wherever we see it.
Doing
what a good pro-business government does.
After
the decade of recovery from the last Labour government…
… we
are now bringing in a decade of renewal.
With
this government’s new leadership…
…we
have the opportunity to hit fast-forward on that renewal.
It is
an opportunity the Prime Minister and I are seizing.
We are
not just neighbours, or even sometimes dog-sitters.
We are
partners.
We
share the same determination on Brexit…
… the
same vision of One Nation conservatism…
… and
we both spend the same amount of time brushing our hair.
Our
vision is based on the people’s priorities, and on Conservative principles.
Conservatives
understand that a dynamic free market…
… is
the only way to fund world-class public services.
For me, like so many others around the country…
…public services were my lifelines.
The teachers who made my career possible.
The police officers who kept us safe when the street I grew up on became
a centre for drug dealers.
The NHS that cared for my dad in his final days.
These aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet – they are the beating heart
of our country.
That’s
why public services are at the heart of this government’s agenda.
Earlier this month, I announced our spending plans for Britain’s first
year outside the EU.
A New
Economic Plan for a new era.
Thanks to the hard work of the British people…
… and our responsible economic management…
… we
are able to invest an extra £13.4 billion in our public services.
This
Spending Round will make a real difference in people’s lives.
That
includes recruiting 20,000 new police officers…
…restoring
our rightful reputation as the party of law and order.
Increased
funding for every school in the country…
… and a
renaissance for further education.
Continuing
our record investment in the NHS…
… and
making a large down-payment on social care.
These
are the people’s priorities.
These
are our priorities.
And
it’s our Conservative government that is delivering on them.
Brexit
was a wake-up call that we need to be better connected…
… both
across our country, and beyond our shores.
One of
the things I remember most from my international career is the energy in the
air you can feel in places like Southeast Asia.
The
quick turnaround between vision to implementation – from new towns to new
airports.
It
echoes our industrial revolution of the Victorian era…
… which
laid the foundations for over a century –
from
the railway network to
the
electric telegraph.
That’s
the spirit we need to rekindle in Britain.
But the
truth is,
successive
governments failed to invest enough for the long-term.
We’ve
started to put that right, but we can do more – a lot more.
This
government is going to build Britain’s future,
and
bring in a new infrastructure revolution.
Infrastructure
is the foundation of everything.
It’s
the new road that connects local communities.
The bus
you need to get to school.
And the
broadband that helps your small business trade around the world.
The
full benefits of our infrastructure revolution may not be felt for some time.
But the
work must start here and now.
So
today I can announce the first wave of this revolution…
… the
good kind of revolution.
Our
roads are the arteries of our country.
We will
soon launch the new Roads Investment Strategy…
… with
£29 billion committed for strategic and local roads over the next five
years.
And
today we are getting the shovels out early on several important road projects…
…
including upgrading the nearby M60 Simister Island…
…
dualling the A66 Transpennine,
and
starting work on the A428 between Cambridge and Milton Keynes.
Now
buses….
… they
haven’t been given the attention they deserve from politicians…
… but
they are still the backbone of our public transport in most of the country.
Well,
not only do you have a Chancellor with a well-known family connection to buses…
… but a
PM who likes to paint them!
At the
Spending Round we allocated £220 million to buses alone.
This
will form part of a National Bus Strategy next year.
Rolling
out new ‘superbus’ networks…
…
expanding our fleet of low emission buses…
… and
delivering better value for money for passengers.
And
last but not least:
connecting
us to the modern, global digital economy with gigabit broadband.
We have
rolled out superfast broadband
but we
have fallen behind many European countries
on the
next generation of technology.
And as
we catch-up I don’t want any part of our country to fall behind others.
So I
can announce we are committing £5billion…
… to
support full-fibre rollout to the hardest to reach 20% of the country.
All of
these measures will level up areas of our country that feel left out.
There
are three principles that will underpin our approach to them.
First,
we will be smart and responsible in the way we invest for the long-term.
We can
do this by taking advantage of incredibly low interest rates…
…and
borrowing-to-build, not borrowing-to-waste like the Labour years.
Second,
we will have a bias towards anything that brings our country together.
For a start
that means protecting our United Kingdom.
And I’d
like to pay tribute to Ruth Davidson…
…for
all she did to prevent a socialist-separatist alliance from running –
from
ruining – our country.
Thank
you Ruth.
Bringing
our country together also means rebalancing our economy…
That’s
why the first big policy decision of this government
was to
support the development of Northern Powerhouse Rail.
And we
know it’s no good just decreeing from on high what local areas need.
Too
many people already feel power is distant to them – be it in Brussels or
Westminster.
So I
can announce today we will bring forward a White Paper on further devolution in
England.
Giving
more local areas more local powers…
… to
drive investments in the infrastructure and services they know they need.
We
already have four brilliant Conservative metro mayors…
Let’s
get one in Manchester too!
And
third, we will take a dynamic, market-driven approach to driving down our
carbon emissions.
Not
only are we the first large economy to commit to Net Zero by 2050.
Last
week at the UN General Assembly…
… our
Prime Minister committed to doubling Britain’s funding
for
global environmental and climate change programmes.
They
are the approaches we will take in building Britain’s future.
And
with so much at stake for our country right now…
… I’m
impatient to get on with it.
We have
achieved so much in just ten weeks.
And I’d
like to thank our brilliant ministerial team in the Treasury…
Rishi
Sunak,
Jesse
Norman,
John
Glen,
Simon
Clarke…
And our
parliamentary team…
Rachel
Maclean,
Lee
Rowley
and
Mike Freer.
The
final Conservative principle I want to talk about today is this.
We
believe in a society where everyone knows that if they work hard, and play
by the
rules…
… then
they will have every opportunity to succeed.
They
are our values.
It’s
our mission to help people to get a job, get a home, get ahead.
But we
do have to acknowledge that not everyone…
…in
every part of the country…
… feels
that they have all the opportunities they should have.
Not all
parents feel that their children will have it better than they did.
We need
to do more to level the playing field…
…
between regions and generations…
…and
give all young people the best start in life.
Last
year I announced the Youth Endowment Fund…
…helping
at-risk young people get off the conveyor belt to crime.
And I
can announce today a new Youth Investment Fund.
This
ambitious £500 million programme will roll out youth centres and services right
across our country…
…
helping millions more young people get on the conveyor belt to a better life
and
career.
Of
course, one of the biggest concerns for the next generation is being able to
buy a
home.
To
claim their stake in our society.
We’re
on track to increase housing supply to its highest level since 1970.
But I
know from my time as Housing Secretary that we need to do so much
more…
…and
the accelerated planning proposals Robert has announced today are just
the
start.
Getting
ahead.
Getting
a home.
The
best way to achieve both those things is getting a good job.
On our
watch… 1,000 extra people have gone into work every day since 2010.
And
this applies to all corners of our country…
… with
most of the new jobs being created outside London and the South East.
150,000
more people are in employment in Greater Manchester alone…
… whenever
I meet my counterparts in Europe, they ask me how we are doing it.
Real
wages and household incomes are rising…
…
putting more money in people’s pockets.
And with
full employment and strong public finances…
… we
are now in a position to see what more we can do to help workers…
… and
reduce the cost of living.
In
2016, we introduced the National Living Wage…
Giving
Britain’s workers the biggest pay rise in two decades.
In
April, we increased the rate again…
…making
1.8 million workers better off…
Putting
the number of low paid workers at its lowest level in four decades.
Today,
I’m delighted to announce that we will take this much further.
Over
the next five years, we will make the UK the first [major economy in the
world] to end low pay altogether.
To do
that, I am setting a new target for the National Living Wage:
Raising
it to match two-thirds of median earnings.
That
means, on current forecasts, this ambitious plan will bring the National Living
Wage up to £10.50.
Giving
four million people a well-earned pay rise.
And to
help the next generation of go-getters to get ahead…
… we
will reward the hard work of all millennials too…
By bringing
down the age threshold for the National Living Wage…
…to
cover all workers over the age of 21.
The hard
work of the British people really is paying off.
It’s
clear it’s the Conservatives who are the real party of labour.
We are
the workers party.
Delivering
Brexit.
Boosting
public services.
Backing
enterprise and hard work.
And
bringing our country together by levelling up across the nation
and
across generations.
That’s
the direction we are setting for our country.
That’s
what will be on offer at the next election:
A
decade of renewal,
or a
decade of reversal.
We in
this room are today’s representatives of the most successful party in the
Western
world.
An
institution that has helped to build Britain for over two centuries.
And now
in 2019, we have a duty to see the country through the challenges
ahead.
We are
the only party that can get Brexit done.
We are
the only party that can call ourselves democrats.
And we are
the only party that will truly deliver for workers.
We are
the Conservative & Unionist Party – and we will unite this country.
We are
a responsible, One Nation party that focuses on what we have in common, not
what divides us.
We
believe in building on the best of the past.
Not
just putting up with modern Britain, but embracing it.
Saying
loud and clear that we love our country.
We are
a welcoming, tolerant and fair society.
The
most successful multiracial democracy in the world.
We are
an open, global, trading nation.
One of
the most prosperous in the world.
And we
are a compassionate, caring, country.
Not
just for those close to home, but also for some of the poorest in the world.
That’s
who we are.
That’s
what this party stands for.
And
that’s what we are delivering for our country.
ENDS
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