Prime Minister addresses the CBI Annual Conference

On the final day of the CBI’s Annual Conference, Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, spoke directly to businesses to paise the efforts made by firms to protect lives and livelihoods throughout the pandemic. Mr Johnson also highlighted recent developments in testing and the new pilot scheme in Liverpool, before speaking fervently about the UK’s recovery and plans to build back better, faster and greener.

Recognition of the challenges facing firms

The Prime Minister started his address to the CBI’s Annual Conference by talking passionately about the vital partnership between business and government in dealing with the impacts of the pandemic on all aspects of life across the UK.

Mr Johnson praised British business and thanked firms for their heroic efforts to look after their employees, make their premises COVID-secure and comply with the necessary restrictions to protect public health. Speaking on the eve of the second national lockdown coming into force in England, the Prime Minister also stated the revised restrictions would end on 2 December.

Mr Johnson went on to highlight that efforts to reduce the R rate were to protect the NHS and save thousands of lives, so that together we can exit this crisis, before touching on business support. He pointed to over £2bn of support, including the Bounce Back Loans, CLBILs and JRS, and said that the government will do all it can to back Britain’s businesses.

Future focused: innovation and testing

The Prime Minister commended business for its innovation and solutions, and highlighted the distilleries that produced hand sanitizer, the fashion houses that made PPE and the manufacturers who built ventilators. Mr Johnson pointed out that due to this fast action seen in the Spring, we are in a much better situation to deal with the virus as we head into the winter.

He also spoke passionately about the technical innovation which has led to the development of drugs, trialled in Britain, such as dexamethasone. The Prime Minister talked about the vaccine he hopes will be available in the spring of 2021, again emphasising British businesses’ involvement.

On testing, Mr Johnson highlighted the development of new testing systems developed in the UK before going on to speak about the roll-out of city-wide coronavirus testing in Liverpool. This testing will help identify positive cases, with those who get a positive result being asked to self-isolate - ultimately supporting efforts to bring down the R rate.

The Prime Minister also spoke about new lateral flow tests being manufactured in the UK, and his hopes that this will also help bring the R rate down so the economy can reopen.

Business has an important role to play in building back better

When talking about the recovery, the Prime Minister recognised the important roles both business and government have to play. He said it would be firms that drive the recovery, creating jobs, giving young people opportunities. For its part, the government would use every tool at its disposal to help unite and level up the country. Mr Johnson noted that better infrastructure, better education and investment in technology would be crucial to create the right environment for business to thrive.

The Prime Minister emphasised the government’s £600bn of investment in the UK’s future prosperity including in high speed rail, northern power house rail to super-fast broadband across the whole of the UK. He also noted planning regulation changing to help modernise the system, investing in skills and plans for a new green revolution – all part of the government’s ambition to build back better, faster and greener.