Boris Johnson says UK has ‘the financial strength’ to get through cost of living crisis

Boris Johnson has said the country will get through the current ‘pressures’ on living standards thanks to its financial strength.

The outgoing prime minister, who will hand over the keys to Number 10 to either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss next week, shared his optimism in the UK’s ability to survive the cost of living crisis.

Despite household energy bills soaring, inflation rising to double digits and a looming recession, Johnson said he has every confidence in the UK to come out on the other side of the crisis victorious.

When asked today whether Britain was ‘broken’ during an interview with ITV News, he responded: “Absolutely not. This country has got an incredible future and has everything going for it.

“Look at the place that people want to invest in. Which is the country that attracts more venture capital investment now than China? It’s the United Kingdom.

“Which country has, I think, more billion-pound start-up tech companies than France, than Germany, than Israel put together? It is the United Kingdom.

“Why do people want to come here? Because it is the place to be. What we’re doing now, and what I’m proud that we’ve done over the last three years or so, is put in a lot of things that will make this country fit for the future.”

Johnson went on to point out that current investments being made in the country ‘are going to make it fit for the future’.

He added: “What we’re also doing is making sure that we have the long-term British energy supplies that we need to get our people through.”

The PM also said that the thousands of people crossing the English Channel in boats in an attempt to claim asylum is ‘just a symptom of why this country is one of the most successful on Earth’.

He said: “Of course, people want to come and live here… Of course it’s a perennial difficulty to stop people coming here illegally, but we’re taking powers to do that.”