Rishi Sunak tries to 'fool Britain' with conference speech plea to stay in power
Rishi Sunak was accused of trying to fool Britain as he pleaded to stay in power in his party conference speech.
The PM finally confirmed that he was scrapping the HS2 line between Birmingham and Manchester despite warnings he is betraying the North. He tried to soften the blow by re-announcing a load of road and rail projects the Tories previously promised but have failed to deliver. Farcically, the touted new schemes also included building a tram link to Manchester Airport - even though this opened almost a decade ago.
Mr Sunak bizarrely claimed that after 13 years of Tory rule voters will be choosing change if they back him at the election. Addressing the party faithful at the end of a chaotic conference in Manchester, the PM pledged to phase out smoking by gradually raising the legal age to buy cigarettes, as well as introducing restrictions on vapes for children. He also said he would replace A-levels and T-levels with a new "Advanced British Standard" that will see youngsters forced to study more subjects.
The PM ignored warnings from his predecessors David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson as he confirmed HS2 would not go all the way to Manchester. He insisted "the facts have changed" and the cost of the scheme had "more than doubled".
High speed trains heading northwards from London will slow down after Birmingham when they will be forced to share the existing West Coast line. The Government previously warned in its own report that this would cause disruption for services around Manchester as “there is no capacity for additional trains into the city” on the current tracks.
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Mr Sunak said axing the northern leg of HS2 and changes to the project to build thousands of houses around Euston station in central London would save a combined £36billion. He pledged to "reinvest every single penny… in hundreds of new transport projects in the North and the Midlands, across the country".
The PM said he would upgrade the A1, A2, A5 and M6 even though these previously announced road plans were delayed by up to five years only six months ago by him. Other promises include improving rail journeys between Manchester and Liverpool as well as building a new station in Bradford, which were all part of Northern Powerhouse Rail before it was scrapped.
Mr Sunak said he would fund the Shipley Bypass in Bradford and the Blyth Relief Road in Northumberland. These were both touted five years ago but didn’t happen. Government documents suggested the Metrolink would be extended to Manchester Airport. The tram line opened in 2014.
In his speech, the PM said there was an "undeniable sense that politics just doesn't work the way it should" with a "broken system". "We will be bold. We will be radical. We will face resistance and we will meet it," he said.
"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. Be in no doubt: it is time for a change. And we are it."
Labour's national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden said: “After 13 years and five Tory Prime Ministers, Rishi Sunak ’s latest desperate attempt to reset his weak leadership and divided government won’t fool the British public who are looking at Tory failures all around them.”
He added: “The Tories have let Britain down for too long. They cannot be the change from their own failures. The damage they would do with five more years would be intolerable for working people."
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said northern leaders had not been consulted over the Tories' incoherent plan announced in the city. He said: "I think this city region was entitled to more respect than it's been given."
Speaking at Liverpool road station, the terminus of the world's first inter-city railway for passengers, he told reporters: "Does this country have the will within it to actually prioritise the north of England and sort out its transport problems?
"Does this country have it within to stop treating people here in the north as second class citizens when it comes to transport and put them at the front of the queue rather than the back of the queue when it comes to investment? These are still open questions and they've not been answered by the Prime Minister today."
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Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “These policy wheezes are a last desperate roll of the dice from a government that knows it's living on borrowed time. There is only one solution. That’s for Rishi Sunak to call an election now and let the people elect a government able to put right the many wrongs of the past decade.”
The Government later said that its document of transport pledges should have stated that the Metrolink tram line will be extended to a second terminal at Manchester Airport.
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