PM embraces need for a new post-Brexit, post-Covid economic strategy, but has nothing to say about what that should be beyond lower migration

Commenting on the Prime Minister’s speech at the Conservative Party conference today, in which he began to set out his vision for a new economic strategy to tackle the issues of low wages, poor skills provision and weak productivity that dog the UK economy, Torsten Bell, Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation, said:

“The Prime Minister kicked off his speech calling for a completely new economic strategy, but by the time he finished the country was none the wiser about what that would involve – beyond lower migration.

“While lower migration will increase the relative wages of HGV drivers in the short term, it will do nothing to address the underlying problems of weak productivity growth and high inflation that are holding back the living standards of British families.

“Given the decade of change ahead of us, and the legacy of high inequality and stagnant incomes that lie behind us, Boris Johnson is right to say the country needs a new economic plan. He now needs to get one.”