On the fourth day of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a speech with the HS2 rail link from Birmingham to Manchester top of the agenda. There has been speculation for weeks that Sunak was planning on scrapping the rail link, which has been in development for over a decade and today, he set the record straight.
Sunak confirmed that the rest of HS2 is to be cancelled, which means the proposed high-speed line between Manchester and Birmingham will no longer be built. However, they are still going to complete the Birmingham to London line. The Prime Minister said:
“I say, to those who backed the project in the first place, the facts have changed. And the right thing to do when the facts change, is to have the courage to change direction. So I am ending this long-running saga. I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project.โ
Sunak said that by cancelling the project, ยฃ36bn of funding would freed up and that โevery single pennyโ of that would be pumped into other transport projects across the country. These include:
- ยฃ12bn for a new Liverpool-Manchester link.
- Fully electrified trains to Sheffield, Bradford and Hull from Manchester.
- A Midlands rail hub
- Key upgrades to roads across the country.
Sunak suggested that the decision will result in a net positive for every area outside of London. He said: โAs a result of the decision weโre taking today, every region outside of London will receive the same or more government investment than they would have done under HS2 with quicker results.โ
While the announcement on HS2 is the headline of the speech, Sunak also announced a few other policy shifts. These included:
A planned abolishment of A-Levels
Sunak has said that he wants to change the way that 16-19-year-olds are educated in the United Kingdom. In his speech at the party conference today, he set out his plans to replace A-Levels and T-Levels with a new qualification called โThe Advanced British Standard.โ
Within this framework, students would have to study English and Maths until the age of 18 while also studying a further five subjects. Sunak believes this would raise education standards in this country as he looks to create the โbest education system in the western worldโ.
As teachers would become further stretched by this new qualification, Sunak has pledged to provide those who teach โkey subjectsโ with tax-free bonuses of up to ยฃ30,000 to โrewardโ them for doing โone of the most valuable jobs in societyโ.
Revealing more about the Advanced British Stanard, Sunak said:
โA-level students generally only do three subjects compared to the seven studied by our economic competitors. Our 16 to 19-year-olds spend around a third less time in the classroom than some of our competitors.
โThe Advanced British Standard will change that too, with students typically studying five subjects and thanks to the extra teaching time we are introducing, the great breadth wonโt come at the expense of depth which is such a strength of our system.โ
A proposal to end smoking in the UK
Another key announcement to come from Sunakโs speech relates to his intention to banish smoking in the UK. An anti-smoking law that will raise the minimum age for buying tobacco by a year each year has been proposed by the Prime Minister. He said:
โThis policy would mean that a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette and that they and their generation can grow up smoke-free. People take up cigarettes when they’re young – four in five smokers have started by the time they’re 20.
“Later the vast majority try to quit. But many fail because they’re addicted and they wish they had never taken up the habit in the first place. If we could break that cycle, if we could stop the start, then we would be on our way to ending the biggest cause of preventable death and disease in our country.”
Sunak later confirmed that the policy would be decided via a vote in the House of Commons and that no conservative MP would be whipped to vote in favour of it. Instead, he said it was a โmatter of conscience.โ
Final thought
Announcing the cancellation of HS2 in Manchester was certainly a bold move by the Prime Minister, particularly as the conference has already been marred by protests. For a party who have been so keen to push the Levelling Up Agenda over the past five years, it isnโt a great look and is unlikely to do much for Sunakโs status in the polls.
The proposal to end smoking in the UK is also a bold step towards promoting public health. However, the devil is in the details, and the success of this initiative will depend on its implementation and the support of the government, opposition, and the public.