"We Will Bounce Back" - PM Message To CBI Conference

The Prime Minster, speaking on the last day of the CBI’s virtual annual conference, told delegates that his government would address the yawning gap between the cities and regions of the UK.

We would, he said, ”bounce back to build back better, faster and greener."

Apologising to businesses experiencing the frustrations and the nightmare of the Covid world, he praised them for their “heroic efforts in looking after their employees and making premises Covid secure.”

The Prime Minster said these autumn measures would end on 2 December and recognised the strain business was under.

“Complying with the kind of diktats that I never believed we would have to impose, go against every free market instinct I possess,” he said.

“It is thanks to British technical innovation that we are now in a far better position than first wave, with drugs trialled in Britain.

“There is the prospect of a vaccine in the first quarter of next year with several British companies among the front runners.

"We have fantastic new testing systems lab tests, lateral flow tests with some of the most promising devices already made in this country.”

He said that he would do whatever it takes to back British business “because I know that when the recovery comes, and it will come, it will happen entirely to the efforts of the people watching this video."

He told delegates that every tool of government to level up across the whole of the UK would be used with better infrastructure, better education and investment in technology to “create a platform for growth and investment.”

Over £600bn of investment in our future prosperity was promised including high speed rail, Northern Powerhouse Rail to superfast broadband and a commitment to modernise and speed up our antiquated planning system.

He also said he would be “helping young people to achieve the dream of homeownership with new long term fixed rate mortgages.

“It means investing in skills with the lifelong skills guarantee breaking down the pointless and outdated divide between further and higher education.”

A new green industrial revolution creating hundreds and thousands of jobs in every aspect of carbon technology was also promised.

“No matter how deep the hole you think you are in, you can always bounce back.”

Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, CBI Director-General, said:

“The Prime Minister’s heartfelt commitment to backing British business could not be more necessary or welcome. It’s only through thriving enterprise that our economy will bounce back from this crisis.

“The Prime Minister made it very clear he shares this view and that his door is always open to the CBI and business. In return, firms will do all they can to help our country recover. They will step up to support communities, create new jobs for young people and accelerate the UK’s path to net zero. This is a time for the partnership of a generation between business and government.

Our door too is always open.

“This next month will be a test of this partnership, bringing a collision of the twin challenges of lockdown and the end game on the UK’s trade deal with the EU. Let’s use this time working side-by-side to protect jobs, livelihoods and communities across the country.