Prime Minister Boris Johnson meeting student CassidyPrime Minister Boris Johnson meeting student Cassidy
Prime Minister Boris Johnson meeting student Cassidy

These were the scenes when Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Blackpool

Boris Johnson confirmed plans to extend the right to buy to housing association tenants on a visit to Blackpool as he seeks to repair his fortunes after a Tory revolt against his leadership.

In a speech in Blackpool, Boris Johnson acknowledged the squeeze on household finances but insisted the country was better-placed than in previous economic crises, with unemployment at its lowest since 1974.

Speaking at Blackpool and The Fylde College, the Prime Minister said: “Today, we are living in the aftermath of the worst pandemic for a century and once again we are steering into the wind.

“We face global pressures on prices caused by the lingering effects of Covid and the shock of (Vladimir) Putin’s aggression in Ukraine.

“We will get through it, just as we got through the far greater challenge of Covid and the colossal fall in output that entailed.

“Our position is far better than during past economic difficulties – people don’t face the misery of the 1980s or 1990s of being told in their millions that they were surplus to requirements, that there was no job they could do.”