‘Radical’ Sunak cuts HS2, pledges A-level reforms and stubs out cigarettes

The Prime Minister promised ‘a government prepared to make long-term decisions so that we can build a brighter future’.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty on stage after he delivered his keynote speech (Stefan Rousseau/PA) (PA Wire)

Rishi Sunak axed the northern leg of HS2, set out a plan to phase out smoking and announced sweeping education reforms as he promised to create a “brighter future for everyone”.

The Prime Minister defied senior Tories and business leaders to scrap HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester, saying “the facts have changed” and the cost of the high-speed rail scheme had “more than doubled”.

At the Conservative Party’s conference in Manchester, he promised to use the £36 billion of savings from scrapping the HS2 line to fund a raft of other transport schemes.

With a general election expected next year, Mr Sunak said he was prepared to change the “broken” political system and offer change, despite the Conservatives having been in power since 2010.

Mr Sunak, who was introduced on stage by his wife Akshata Murty, announced:

– A major reform of secondary school qualifications which could take a decade to introduce, bringing together A-levels and T-levels to create a new “Advanced British Standard” which will see students covering more subjects.

– A plan to effectively phase out smoking by raising the age to buy cigarettes by one year, every year, meaning a 14-year-old today will never legally be able to purchase them.

– A pledge to restrict the availability of vapes to children.

Mr Sunak confirmed the fate of HS2 after weeks of speculation which had overshadowed the conference.

The decision came after a cabinet meeting held in Manchester, with a source saying the ministers were “all very supportive” of the decision.

But predecessors Boris Johnson, Theresa May and David Cameron had all cautioned against the move, as had Tory West Midlands mayor Andy Street.

Mr Sunak said: “I say to those who backed the project in the first place, the facts have changed.

“The right thing to do when the facts change is to have the courage to change direction.”

He promised to “reinvest every single penny, £36 billion, in hundreds of new transport projects in the North and the Midlands, across the country”.

Mr Sunak confirmed the scheme will run to Euston in central London, rather than terminating at Old Oak Common in the capital’s western suburbs, but promised to get a grip on the costs of the project.

He said the new plan for Euston will save £6.5 billion compared with HS2’s vision, with a new development zone around the station for businesses and homes.

The Prime Minister said: “The management of HS2 will no longer be responsible for the Euston site.

“There must be some accountability for the mistakes made, for the mismanagement of this project.”

Mr Street said he was “incredibly disappointed” by the “agonising” HS2 decision but he said he would not quit the Tories, despite thinking “incredibly long and hard” about his future in the party.

Labour’s Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said: “What’s been announced at conference today is not (a) coherent plan.”

On smoking, Mr Sunak said Tory MPs would be given a free vote on his plan, in acknowledgement that his view is controversial within a party which has a tendency to reject measures which curtail individual freedom.

He said: “We have a chance to cut cancer deaths by a quarter, significantly ease those pressures and protect our children, and we should take it.”

Under the plan to create a “smoke-free generation” the proposed new legislation will make it an offence for anyone born on or after January 1, 2009 to be sold tobacco products.

This has the potential to phase out smoking in young people almost completely as early as 2040.

He also promised measures to prevent an “epidemic” of vaping among children by “restricting the availability of vapes to our children, looking at flavours, packaging displays and disposable vapes”.

Mr Sunak said boosting education was “the closest thing we have to a silver bullet” as it was “the best economic policy, the best social policy, the best moral policy”.

Under his plans, the new baccalaureate-style qualification for 16 to 19-year-olds in England will put technical and academic education on an equal footing and ensure that all young people leave school knowing the basics in maths and English.

The new Advanced British Standard – which aides admitted could take around 10 years to introduce – would bring together the best of A-levels and vocational T-levels into a single new qualification, with most students studying a minimum of five subjects.

After 13 years of Conservative rule, Mr Sunak faces a tough task to turn around the opinion polls ahead of the general election.

The Prime Minister 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: “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.”