PAY DAY Millions of workers to get £1,000-a-year wage boost, Hunt confirms – as he announces freeze on hiring woke bosses

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 the economy by cracking down on benefits "shirkers" and shrinking the size of the civil service.

He pledged to impose a hiring freeze on Whitehall fat-cats and drastically reduce the number of woke government equality and diversity bosses.

Mr Hunt's promise to hike the national living wage to £11 per hour means full-time workers will see their annual earnings rise by £1,000 next year.

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It comes as...

• Government sources confirmed the Manchester leg of HS2 WILL be scrapped
• Education Secretary Gillian Keegan hinted that she wants to look at ways to ban kids from using mobile phones in classrooms
• Ex-PM Liz Truss called on her successor Rishi Sunak to be more bold with the economy and drastically reduce taxes
• More than 30 Tory MPs signed a pledge vowing to vote against Jeremy Hunt's Autumn Statement if it includes tax rises

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The Chancellor told a room of card carrying Conservatives: "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

"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." 

The move is expected to impact two million workers.

Alongside hiking the living wage, Mr Hunt admitted Britain's tax burden is "too high" and the size of the state simply too large.

But to the bitter disappointment of backbench Tory MPs, he refused to commit to slashing rates ahead of next year's general election.

The Chancellor said: "Conference, when we halve inflation, that's not just a 1% income tax cut, that's a 5% boost to incomes compared to if it stayed the same."

Mr Hunt promised to get spending on public services under control so the economy can stabilise and tax cuts can eventually go ahead.

To reduce spending and save a whopping £1bn, the Chancellor pledged to impose a hiring freeze on 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 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, arguing 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."

Minutes before the Chancellor took to the conference stage, hundreds of free-market Tories gathered in a separate, packed out function space in the Manchester's Midland Hotel to hear Liz Truss urge Rishi Sunak to slash taxes.

The ex-PM didn't hold back as she pleaded with ministers to "make Britain grow again".

Ms Truss said: "Let's stop taxing and banning things," she told the packed room.

"Let's instead build things and make things. Let's be prepared to make conservative arguments again, even if it's unpopular, even if it's difficult. I want everybody in this room to unleash their inner conservative.