Boris Johnson impressed the British Conservative Congress with his lively speech, but the reactions from business and entrepreneurs have been cool to negative.

In front of the thousands of delegates in Manchester, the Prime Minister had eloquently celebrated the country's economic recovery and an alleged turn towards an economy with higher wages, investments and productivity, but said little of substance about the current crises.

Philip Plickert

Business correspondent based in London.

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The BCC Chamber of Commerce reacted angrily. Although the ambitions of the prime minister are welcomed, the companies "urgently need answers to the problems they are facing here and now," said BCC Director General Shevaun Haviland. "Firms are struggling with a cumulative crisis in business conditions as supply chains are damaged, prices soar, taxes rise and labor shortages reach new heights." Overall, the economic recovery is on volatile ground. According to summer forecasts, British economic output could grow by 7 percent this year after the deep Corona slump, but supply chain problems and staff shortages are increasingly burdening companies.

Johnson has placed a special focus on the “leveling-up” policy in Manchester.

What is meant is the promotion of backward regions in the north of England.

The government is investing in new infrastructure, major rapid transit systems and road construction projects, as well as new bus routes.

Johnson also announced that it would strengthen schools in disadvantaged locations.

Math teachers who move there are said to get a bonus of £ 3,000.

In the former Labor constituencies in northern England, the Tories had celebrated great electoral successes in 2019.

Truck drivers wanted

Johnson's call for higher wages is now clearly aimed at gaining sympathy among the workforce. The government is also considering raising the statutory minimum wage by 5.7 percent to £ 9.42. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) warned Johnson after his speech in Manchester that the goal of higher wages without higher productivity would only lead to higher prices. Economists believe that inflation in the UK, driven particularly by high energy prices, could rise well above 4 percent.

Wages are currently rising sharply in some industries and professions because companies are desperately looking for staff.

Truck drivers are particularly sought after, but thousands of helpers for agriculture, slaughterhouses and other industries are also attracted with wage surcharges - often in vain.

Johnson countered calls for more foreign workers with the harsh words: "We are not going back to the broken model of low wages and low productivity" created by "uncontrolled immigration," he said in Manchester.

The free-market Adam Smith Institute is outraged by what it sees as the social democratic turn of the prime minister, who is distancing himself from the Thatcher legacy of the Tories.

More than a million vacancies

But Johnson also heard opposition from prominent supporters of the Conservatives. Lord Simon Wolfson, head of the successful fashion retail chain Next and a declared Brexit supporter, warned the prime minister. Wolfson said in a BBC radio interview that he does not want to return to uncontrolled immigration from EU countries, but he does want visas for much-needed professionals. Even at higher wages he cannot find British staff for his warehouses. According to the ONS statistics office, there are currently more than one million vacancies in the economy. Richard Walker, head of supermarket chain Icelands Foods and Brexit supporter, also complained about Johnson. He treats the economy like a "sponge" that can absorb costs at will.

The petrol station crisis has now eased after there was hardly any petrol at many petrol pumps for around ten days.

Farmers and the food industry are now complaining louder about staff shortages.

British farmers have started emergency slaughtering of pigs because their farms are overcrowded and the slaughterhouses have no free capacity.

Individual farms had to throw away tens of thousands of liters of milk due to a lack of transporters.

However, the dairy farmers' association still spoke of "few incidents" in this regard.

Overall, however, there is a growing fear that the many bottlenecks could develop into a major crisis in the run-up to Christmas.