JEREMY Hunt today confirmed workers will bag a £1,000 a year wage boost as he admitted taxes are “too high” in Britain.
In a major speech on the second day of Tory Conference in Manchester, the Chancellor vowed to reinvigorate Britain’s economy by cracking down on benefits “shirkers” and continuing to reduce inflation.
AFPBritain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt arrives to address the annual Conservative Party Conference in Manchester[/caption]
Mr Hunt also pledged to shrink the size of the state by imposing a hiring freeze on Whitehall fat-cats and drastically shrinking the number of woke government equality and diversity bosses.
Hiking the national living wage to £11 per hour means full-time workers will see their annual earnings rise by £1,000 next year.
The Chancellor said: “Today I want to complete another great Conservative reform, the national living wage.
“We promised in our manifesto to raise the national living wage to two-thirds of median income – ending low pay in this country.
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“At the moment it is £10.42 an hour and we are waiting for the Low Pay Commission to confirm its recommendation for next year.
“But I confirm today, whatever that recommendation, we will increase it next year to at least £11 an hour. A pay rise for over two million workers.”
Alongside boosting the living wage, Mr Hunt admitted Britain’s tax burden is “too high” and the size of the state too large.
But to the bitter disappointment of backbenchers he refused to commit to slashing rates ahead of next year’s general election.
Instead, Mr Hunt promised to get spending on public services under control so the economy can stabilise and cuts can eventually be made.
To reduce spending and save a whopping £1bn, the Chancellor pledged to implement a hiring freeze across the civil service.
He said: “The Treasury needs to change its focus from short-term cost control to long term cost reduction and we’re going to start with the civil service.
“I’m freezing the expansion of the civil service and putting in place a plan to reduce its numbers to pre-pandemic levels.”
Mr Hunt hinted that woke equality and diversity roles will be first in line for the chopping as civil servants depart Whitehall.
He said: “I won’t lift until the hiring freeze until all public sector productivity improves.
“That means, amongst other things, changing our approach to equality and diversity initiatives.
“Smashing glass ceilings is everyone’s job, not a box to be ticked by hiring a diversity manager.”
Mr Hunt also confirmed a mega crack down on benefits claimants refusing to find a job as 100,000 people leave the workforce each year for a life on handouts.
The Chancellor warned that the system is heading in the “wrong direction” since the pandemic in getting people clocking on.
It comes as Ministers step up their efforts to ‘make work pay’ by boosting UK productivity.
Mr Hunted launched a stinging attack on Labour saying they would remove incentives to work.
He said: “When Labour left office we had more people in workless households than nearly anywhere in Europe.
“Since then those households are down by nearly a million and we are never ever going back.”