Rishi Sunak had earlier unveiled a £500 million package to extend support for young workers. 

Sunak told the gathering in Manchester: “At its peak, just under one in three workers under 25 were on furlough, so we created the Kickstart scheme.” This and similar schemes would be expanded into next year, he said.

He added: “I will do whatever I can to protect people’s livelihoods and create new opportunities", but warned: “Our recovery comes with a cost; our national debt is almost 100% of GDP.”

He slammed “reckless borrowing” of previous governments and Labour’s approach to helping families. He had earlier declined to reverse the £20 a week cut to Universal Credit given in part to lower paid workers and asked the conference:

“Is the answer to their hopes and dreams just to increase their benefits?”

Sunak said the economy was recovering faster than forecast. Unemployment was predicted to be 12%, he said, but was less than 5% and falling and less than in the US, France and Spain.

Earlier, he had indicated tax rises were on the way.

“There is no way to raise £12 billion without looking at one of our big tax levers. The top 10-15% of taxpayers will end up paying over half the bill.”