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Chancellor Covid-1p has promised to “always balance books” by increasing costs in the wake of the epidemic.

In a speech to party members, Ishii Sunak said conservatives had a “sacred duty” to “keep the people’s finances strong”.

He vowed to use “the irresistible power of the British state” to help people find new jobs.

But he said debt and spending needed to be controlled “in the medium term”.

In an online speech during the Conservatives’ annual party conference, he said: “I will not stop trying to find ways to help people and businesses.”

He added, however, that the team could not argue that “there was no limit to how we could spend”, or that “we can only borrow our way out of a hole.”

Mr Sunak cited the Fallu Scheme and its successor, the Employment Assistance Scheme, as an example of government action to support employment in times of crisis.

He said that although the government would continue to “try to be creative” with employment assistance, it would have to be “realistic”.

He told members that “no chancellor” would be able to save every job or business, adding that changes in the economy could not be “avoided” because of Covid-19.

Official figures released in September show that the government borrowed .9 35.9 billion in the previous month, the highest for August since the record began in 1993.

Between April and August, a total of b 113.7 billion was spent, with ministers spending billions on coronavirus-related projects to help the economy.

Sunak is keen to remove the reputation of big spending

Due to the epidemic, the government is at the level of ing.

It is not clear if the Chancellor promised to bring the meaning under “medium term”.

There was not even a whisper of how to do it.

Treasury sources said the next election is unlikely to take place in 2024.

But the first few months of the Chancellor’s job were marked by huge crisis-level spending, a feature he is keen to avoid.

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In an interview after his speech, the chancellor said government debt – which crossed 2 2 trillion for the first time in history in August – was at risk of increasing the cost of borrowing.

“Now that we have so much debt, it doesn’t take much for a sudden yak – we have to bring in X billion pounds a year for high interest,” he said.

Mr Sunak – who has been identified as a potential future Tory leader – said he did not want to be prime minister, and described his “close personal friendship” with Boris Johnson.

Asked if he finally wanted to replace Mr Johnson, he replied: “No. I’m not sure what action the Prime Minister should take. It’s a very difficult thing for me to do.”

The BBC’s economics editor Faisal Islam says: “The chancellor knows that just a few days after his winter economic plan, unemployment will go up to 5%, and social restrictions will intensify, not diminish.

“The continuation of the pattern we’ve seen in the last few weeks since the budget was scrapped will have more support for the economy, but for example, on tax-cancellation.

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In response to his remarks, Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodds said that while millions of people’s jobs were at risk, Mr Sunak had “nothing to say”.

He told reporters that more “targeted support” was needed for the sectors that had suffered the most in the economy as a result of restrictions during the epidemic.

“Unfortunately nothing has been received from the Chancellor as of today that he realized the extent of the work crisis we are facing.”

The best way to balance books is to “maintain the efficiency of our economy’s recovery,” said Dame Carlyn Fairbayron, director general of the business lobby group CBI.

He added that while the cost of the epidemic had been reduced “deeply and unevenly”, he said it was important to protect risky areas such as aircraft, manufacturing and hospitality.