Boris Johnson to brush off petrol queues as ‘change of direction’

Prime minister will tell Tory conference that despite the supply chain crisis a bright future lies ahead

Boris Johnson will brush off petrol queues and empty shelves as evidence of a change of direction" towards a high-wage economy on Wednesday, as he closes a Conservative conference at which supply shortages have barely been acknowledged.

The prime minister channelled Margaret Thatcher on Tuesday to insist there is no alternative" but to press ahead with the post-Brexit transition to a labour market less reliant on immigration.