Happy New Year!
2022 is almost upon us, and whatever the challenges that fate continues to throw in our way and whatever the anxieties we may have about the weeks and months ahead, particularly about Omicron and the growing numbers in hospitals, we can say one thing with certainty: Our position this December the 31st is incomparably better than last year.
This country has the fastest economic growth in the G7.
We have more people in work now than there were before the pandemic began.
And if you want a sign of future growth, look at the massive global investment in British high-tech, almost £30 billion into the UK tech sector this year – twice as much tech investment as Germany, three times as much as France.
And there is one reason – one overriding reason – why the UK has been able to maintain the most open economy and society of any major European economy.
And that is because the British people have responded heroically, voluntarily, and in almost incredible numbers to the call to get vaccinated.
And as I speak tonight on New Year's Eve, we've met our target, we've doubled the speed of the booster rollout, and it's precisely because of that huge national effort that we can celebrate tonight at all.
But I must, of course, urge everyone to be cautious and to take a test if you are going out and to remember the importance of ventilation.
Follow the rules if you are in Scotland or Wales or Northern Ireland.
