Sunak sets out a vision to ‘fundamentally change’ Britain in a conference speech. The prime minister addressed what could be the last Conservative Party conference before the next general election. Rishi Sunak set out his vision to “fundamentally change the country” and fix Westminster’s “broken system”. The PM presented himself as a reformer prepared to make decisions – with the fate of HS2 among them. This post was updated live – scroll down to read what he said, as he said it: (Photo: Rishi’s wife speaking yesterday).

• The PM says he is “making progress” on his five priorities;
• He says he recognises the country wants tax cuts, but repeats his usual line that the best help he can give is to cut inflation;
• The PM declares on Brexit: “We must keep making the case for taking back control because if we don’t our opponents will try and neuter this change”;
• And he hits out the Labour leader, saying: “While we’re busy thinking about the future of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer’s just banging on about Europe”;
• The PM turns to transport in the North and Midlands, labels HS2 “the ultimate example of the old consensus”, and hits out at the soaring costs and long delays;
• “I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project,” the PM declares;
• He says the government will instead reinvest the savings – £36bn – in “hundreds of new transport projects in the North and the Midlands, and across the country”;
• The PM says the new scheme will be called “Network North” which will mean faster travel to Bradford, Sheffield, and Hull “on a fully, electrified line”;
• He also says the £12bn scheme to link Manchester and Liverpool will continue as planned;
• He adds that the blanket £2 bus fare will be retained across the country;
• He also announces that the management of HS2 “will no longer be responsible for the Euston site”, and it will become a new development zone;
• He announces a plan to “raise the smoking age by one year, every year”;
• The PM announced a plan to “bring forward measures to restrict the availability of vapes to our children. Looking at flavours, packaging, point-of-sale displays and disposable vapes”;
• Turning to the economy, the PM says his party will “change the rules so that those who can work, do work”;
• He re-announces that the government will “legislate for sexual and sadistic murders to carry a full life term”;
• The PM announces the creation of a new school-leaver qualification called the “Advanced British Standard” to “bring together A-Levels and T-Levels into a new, single qualification”;
• It will see students study English and Maths to age 18;
• He also announces that sixth-form students will study five subjects rather than eight;
• To attract and retain teachers, they will receive tax-free bonuses of up to £30,000 over the first five years of their careers;
• Closing his speech, the PM declares: “We will give the country what it so sorely needs, and yet too often has been denied: a government prepared to make long-term decisions so that we can build a brighter future – for everyone.”

Boris Johnson Joins David Cameron in Opposing HS2 Cut

Rishi Sunak’s former boss, Boris Johnson, has joined the criticism of the current PM’s decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2. Mr Cameron said on X earlier today that Mr Sunak’s decision was the “wrong” one. Mr Johnson has now said “I agree” on the social platform. That means half of the Conservative prime ministers during their current period in power who ruled the country before Mr Sunak took over have criticised his choice. George Osborne, who was Mr Cameron’s chancellor and right-hand man, has also agreed with his former boss. During his time in power, Mr Johnson scrapped the planned eastern leg of HS2 which would have run to Sheffield and Leeds.

David Cameron: Scrapping HS2 ‘Wrong’

There has been no shortage of criticism following the announcement of the decision to scrap HS2, but we now have perhaps the most significant so far, in the form of a previous Conservative prime minister. David Cameron committed to building the railway in full in his 2015 manifesto, but this was watered down in the 2019 pledge. And writing on X, Mr Cameron said Mr Sunak’s decision was “wrong” and would “help to fuel the views of those who argue that we can no longer think or act for the long-term as a country”. This may well be a reference to the slogan chosen for this year’s Tory conference – “long-term decisions for a brighter future”.

Mr Cameron goes on to say that the announcement “throws away fifteen years of cross-party consensus, sustained over six administrations, and will make it much harder to build consensus for any future long-term projects”. “All across the world, we see transformative, long-term infrastructure projects completed or underway. They show countries on the rise, building for future generations, thinking big, and getting things done. “I regret this decision and in years to come I suspect many will look back at today’s announcement and wonder how this once-in-a-generation opportunity was lost.”

Akshata Murty’s Speech at the Tory Conference was a Bold Move That Humanised Rishi Sunak

There were no big surprises in the prime minister’s speech at the Conservative Party conference; the big policy announcements had all been thoroughly leaked to the media in advance. But he did have one secret weapon – in the form of his wife, Akshata Murty. She stepped out on stage in a bright coral suit and heels, a pop of colour against the blue backdrop – beaming across at the delegates and describing herself as “a bit of a surprise addition… and a surprise for my husband too, who has no idea what I’m going to say”.Number 10 insists this was the case; that Mr Sunak, a man who prides himself on being across the detail of everything, had been left in the dark about the contents of her speech, which we’re told she had written herself.

Mrs Murty is not usually someone who seeks out the limelight, scalded no doubt by the row over her non-dom status and fabulous wealth as the daughter of an Indian billionaire. Indeed, the controversy surrounding her tax status, when it was uncovered in 2022, was widely believed to have derailed her husband’s hopes of ever standing for the leadership. She does now pay UK tax on her international earnings, but it’s an ever-present reminder of her status as one of the true global elite, and regularly weaponised by Labour at PMQs to paint her husband as impossibly detached from the reality of the cost of living crisis for ordinary working people.

HS2’s Demise May Feel Like a Predictable Betrayal as Sunak Cancels the Trains of the Future

By Paul Kelso, business correspondent

Appropriately, the railways were not running in Manchester on the day Rishi Sunak cancelled the trains of the future. A strike left Manchester Piccadilly quiet while up the road, in the conference centre that occupies the Victorian grandeur of the old Manchester Central station, the prime minister tried to ensure high-speed rail will never get there. His pitch was to trade in the 14-year-old cross-party promise to deliver a new line to the city – part of the “old consensus” he decries – for a series of smaller regional and local links using the £36bn saved on HS2. The anger and dismay that greeted the news, from industry groups to former prime ministers, was to be expected.

HS2’s history of overspending and mismanagement may make it hard to love but, whether the PM likes it or not, there is political and business consensus north of Birmingham that it was crucial to permanently bridging the north-south productivity divide. Sunak may have got a better hearing had his new plan, Network North, not been the second rail plan for the north of England in as many years. (You know what they say, you wait ages for a transport blueprint, then two come along.) When Boris Johnson amputated the eastern leg of HS2 to Leeds in 2021 it was done under the cover of the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and the Midlands, promising £54bn of local and regional transport projects.