Boris Johnson talks about "levelling up". 

He promises a high wage economy and giving people in poorer areas the chance to reach their potential. 

But what he is does is guide people towards the escalator and just as they step on it, hoping to be assisted upwards, he presses the button to reverse its direction. 

READ MORE: Boris Johnson promises high wages and low taxes in Conference speech

People can see the prize and the few at the top and they see the stairs that could get them there but the summit never gets any closer. 

The Prime Minister says he wants people off Universal Credit and into work. 

Tens of thousands of people in Glasgow are in receipt of Universal Credit but they are in a job. 

A job that doesn’t pay enough, some because there is no control over zero hours contracts.  

They are in a job which should be a step up the escalator but then they have no certainty of regular income, which pushes them back down. 

A job at a minimum wage rate that is below the Real Living Wage that is considered enough to meet the basic cost of living, which is also rising. 

More of the wages they do earn is taken away in rising bills they have no choice but to pay. People who are paying higher tariffs because they are in debit to multi-national energy firms making enormous profits. 

And they are pushed down the escalator again. 

The Universal Credit uplift was a lifeline for more than 54,000 households in Glasgow. 

It was not a bonus, it merely helped make up for a benefit that, before the uplift, was woefully inadequate. 

It allowed people to not get deeper into debt than they otherwise might and allowed families a better chance of paying their bills and feeding themselves and their children. 

Now it being removed as being “no longer appropriate” they are pushed back down the escalator. 

Boris Johnson is standing at the top of the escalator, beckoning people to ascend while pressing the very buttons that make that an impossibility. 

And he’s doing it with a smile on his face.