UK politics live: Johnson appears to reject proposal for £3bn sugar and salt tax

Q: What will be the impact of opening up on places where few people have been vaccinated? In some parts of Birmingham six out of 10 adults have no had a first vaccine.

Johnson says overall vaccine take-up in the West Midlands is good. He says the government is trying to improve vaccine take-up.

And that’s it. The speech and Q&A are over.

Q: Why did you not acknowledge the impact of austerity in your speech?

Johnson says he never used to talk much about austerity. He says he did not think the term was a “helpful choice of words”.

Johnson stresses again that his levelling up project is not holding London back. Levelling up will benefit the whole of the UK, he says.

Q: From what you said in your speech about the left, it sounded like you only want to devolve power to people who agree with you. Is that right?

Johnson says he is willing to work with anyone.

Q: Do you feel your refusal to offer a full apology in the past for your comments about piccaninnies and Muslim women looking like letter boxes has encouraged people making racist comments online.

Johnson says he has apologised. He says he thinks people want to focus on practical steps that might address the problem.

Q: Will will have to wait until next year before throwing away our face masks?

Johnson says we are in a far, far better position than we were earlier in the pandemic.

He says the risks are diminishing the whole time.

Q: When will we see your plan for social care? It is almost two years since you said you had one.

Johnson says people will see it “before too long”.

Johnson says the achievement of the England team was “stunning”, even though they did not quite win.

Asked if he could learn from Gareth Southgate, he says: “I sit at their feet.”

Q: What do you make of the National Food Strategy report?

Johnson says he will study it. There are doubtless good ideas in it. But he goes on:

I am not, I must say, attracted to the idea of extra taxes on hardworking people.

Johnson says people should imagine what the country might be like if all the country were as productive as the most productive areas.

Johnson claims he always said it was wrong to boo the England players.

Readers have pointed out that Boris Johnson was talking about Andy Street, the mayor of the West Midlands, when he was talking about what a high profile metro mayor can achieve, not Andy Burnham. Some might argue Burnham might be a better example, but Johnson definitely meant Street. I’m sorry about that mistake, and have corrected the earlier posts.