Gove admits 'dream of home ownership receding and wages stagnating' after years of Tory government

Justice Secretary standing for leader of the Conservative party

Wages and home ownership rates have been worsening for millions of people under the Conservatives, Michael Gove has admitted.

In a speech to launch his campaign to lead the Conservative party the Justice Secretary said many Britons had been left as “flotsam and jetsam” under successive governments.

He blamed the changes on immigration and globalisation and said the problems had only been revealed by the referendum.

“It has left people behind. That it has left a stratified and unequal society,” he said.

“That it has broken the British contract which said: if you work hard and throw everything you’ve got into building a better life - then that better life can be built.

“The referendum showed in stark relief that there are two Britains: those who can reap the benefits of globalisation and those who are flotsam and jetsam in its powerful flows of global capital and free labour.

“For millions, the dream of home ownership is receding and wages are stagnating. For millions this is not a brave new world but an uncertain new world.

“And for all Britain’s power and prosperity, for millions this is still not a land of opportunity.”

Former Labour leader Ed Miliband seized on the comments, and noted that Mr Gove had been at the heart of government since 2010.

“And you have been exactly where for six years, Mr Gove?” he said.

Mr Gove’s warning somewhat echoes one of former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who accused the Government of balancing the books on the backs of the most vulnerable in society.

He resigned over the latest tranche of welfare cuts unveiled in George Osborne’s budget.

Mr Gove served in the coalition government from the beginning, appointed as Education Secretary in 2010.

He recently campaigned against his long-time ally David Cameron to bring Britain out of the European Union, however.