As ruling UK Conservatives meet, businesses clamor for help

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — British Treasury chief Rishi Sunak is promoising to deliver an economy based on “good work, better skills and higher wages.” He is shrugging off the U.K.’s economic turmoil as the growing pains of a thriving, self-reliant post-Brexit economy. Sunak touted the U.K.’s low unemployment rate of under 5% as a sign it is putting pandemic disruptions behind it. He said now that Britain has left the European Union, it will embrace “the agility, flexibility and freedom provided by Brexit” to create a dynamic, high-tech economy. But as he spoke to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, soldiers were helping deliver fuel to gas stations after days of disruptions from a truck driver shortage.