Rishi Sunak to pitch himself as prime minister to ‘fundamentally change the country’

Published

2 years ago

October 4, 2023

admin

Rishi Sunak will try to convince the public he is the person to “fundamentally change the country” and fix Westminster’s “broken system” – despite the fact his party has been in government for 13 years.

In his speech to the Tory Party conference, the prime minister will present himself as a reformer who is prepared to take difficult decisions, unlike opponents, who take “the easy decision, not the right one”.

Mr Sunak will tell the conference hall that politics “doesn’t work the way it should” and that his Labour opponent, Sir Keir Starmer, is “betting on voters’ apathy.”

The speech will round off what has been a chaotic four days at the party’s annual conference in Manchester – an event that has been overshadowed by the announcement that the northern leg of HS2 will not go ahead as originally envisioned.

Instead, services will run between Birmingham and Manchester but they will not be high speed and they will use the existing West Coast Mainline track.

The development prompted Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham to accuse the government of treating people in the north as “second-class citizens”.

Election would be ‘massive distraction’ – Tory conference latest

He warned the government: “To pull that plug here in Manchester would show complete contempt to the city region and to the north of England as a whole.”

The Tory mayor for the West Midlands, Andy Street, also warned it would be “an incredible political gaffe” allowing opponents to accuse Mr Sunak of having decided to “shaft the north”.

In his speech, Mr Sunak will rail against “30 years of a political system which incentivises the easy decision, not the right one – 30 years of vested interests standing in the way of change”.

He will reflect on his first year in Number 10 and acknowledge a “feeling that Westminster is a broken system”.

“It isn’t anger, it is an exhaustion with politics,” he will say.

“In particular, politicians saying things, and then nothing ever changing.

“And you know what? People are right. Politics doesn’t work the way it should.”

Poll shows most voters think Sunak is doing a bad job

A new poll of 1,000 people from Ipsos UK suggests most voters think Rishi Sunak is doing a bad job when it comes to hitting his goals.

On inflation, 57% said Mr Sunak was doing a bad job, up from 55% in May.

Some 54% said he was doing a bad job on growing the economy, up from 50% in May.

And 54% of people said he was doing a bad job on reducing national debt – up from 49%.

On cutting NHS waiting lists, dissatisfaction sits at 71%, compared to 62% in May.

On ‘stopping the boats’, two-thirds of people said he was doing a bad job.

The poll was carried out just before the Conservative party conference.

And he will say: “Politicians spent more time campaigning for change than actually delivering it.

“Our mission is to fundamentally change our country.”

As well as the HS2 announcement, Mr Sunak has also been undermined by his predecessor Liz Truss, who drew big conference crowds as she demanded immediate tax cuts to “make Britain grow again”.

Mr Sunak has instead compared himself to the late Baroness Thatcher, who tackled inflation before cutting taxes during her premiership between 1979 and 1990.

While Mr Sunak has repeatedly sought to dodge questions over HS2, he did say on Tuesday that the costs of the project had gone “far beyond” what had been predicted, and the sums involved were “enormous”.

The HS2 scheme was given a budget of £55.7bn in 2015 but costs have ballooned, with an estimate of up to £98bn – in 2019 prices – in 2020.

UK

PPE Medpro partners open to settlement over £122m COVID gowns contract breach

Published

7 mins ago

October 11, 2025

admin

PPE Medpro partners open to settlement over £122m COVID gowns contract breach

Partners of a company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone have said they are open to a possible settlement with the government after the company was found to have breached a £122m PPE contract.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) had accused PPE Medpro of providing 25 million “faulty”, non-sterile gowns during the COVID pandemic.

The High Court ruled earlier this month that it must pay back a £121.9m sum, the price of the gowns.

PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Lady Mone‘s husband Doug Barrowman, filed to enter administration earlier this month.

In a statement on Friday, Mr Barrowman said: “The consortium partners of PPE Medpro are prepared to enter into a dialogue with the administrators of the company to discuss a possible settlement with the government.”

PPE Medpro has spent £4.3m defending its position.

It said offers to settle on a no-fault basis had been made, including the remake of 25 million gowns, or a £23m cash equivalent, which were rejected.

The consortium was awarded government contracts by the former Conservative administration to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) during the pandemic after Lady Mone recommended it to ministers.

It insists that it provided all 25 million gowns and disputes that the gowns were not sterile.

It is understood the partners want to resolve the issue, and administrators have been urged to approach the government to reach an agreement.

In the High Court ruling, Mrs Justice Cockerill said the gowns “were not, contractually speaking, sterile, or properly validated as being sterile”. This meant they could not be used in the NHS.

Barristers for PPE Medro claimed it had been “singled out for unfair treatment” and accused the government of “buyer’s remorse”.

It claimed the gowns had become defective because of the conditions they were kept in after being delivered. It also said the court made its ruling on a technicality.

Lady Mone branded the judgement a win for the “establishment”, while Mr Barrowman said it was a “travesty of justice”.

Baroness Mone, who created the lingerie brand Ultimo, was made a Conservative peer in 2015.

She now says she has “no wish to return” to the House of Lords.

UK

Women risking breast cancer by ‘always putting ourselves last’, says Liz Hurley

Published

7 mins ago

October 11, 2025

admin

Women risking breast cancer by 'always putting ourselves last', says Liz Hurley

Liz Hurley has encouraged women to check themselves for breast cancer – and warned some are not because they “are scared that it’s self-indulgent to spend time on themselves”.

The British actress and model, who has been a global ambassador for the Estee Lauder Companies’ Breast Cancer Campaign for 30 years, told Sky News’ Jacquie Beltrao the demands of everyday life mean women “always put ourselves last”.

“We’re doing stuff for kids, for husbands, for mothers, for in-laws. There’s so much that we have to do that we tend to come last,” she said.

Hurley, whose grandmother died of breast cancer, said she finds it helps by thinking of breast checks as a way to “keep ourselves healthy in order to continue to take care of everybody else”.

That way, it “doesn’t seem self-indulgent or taking time away from something else, it seems really important”.

Checking one’s breasts “takes two minutes”, she added, or “about the same length of time as brushing your teeth”.

More than a third of women in the UK do not take up the first mammogram appointment they are offered, and a recent study of 500,000 women from Sweden found a similar non-attendance rate there.

More than 11,000 people die from breast cancer every year in the UK, or 31 each day, Cancer Research UK said.

That makes it the second most common form of cancer death, accounting for 7% of all cancer deaths, the charity said.

Asked whether some of the messaging had “fallen on deaf ears”, Hurley said attending screenings, which are free on the NHS, is “definitely advised”, and she suggested all women should familiarise themselves with their breasts.

In the past, the illness was seen as “a disease for older ladies. And we didn’t understand that younger women also get diagnosed. That’s been a lot in the news lately”, Hurley said.

“There appear to be more women, younger women being diagnosed. And that could well be one of the reasons is that people are more breast aware, more self-aware.”

She told Ms Beltrao, who is a breast cancer survivor, people “have seen you on television talking about breast cancer”.

As a result of more awareness, she said, women have “begun to understand that it can never be too early to start checking your own breasts and to familiarise yourself [with them].

“When you’re younger and you’re not yet having regular mammograms, you do really have to be aware of your own breasts to be able to see if there’s a change, feel if there is a change and go to your doctor.”

UK

‘New era’ for British passports as King’s coat of arms appears on cover

Published

7 mins ago

October 11, 2025

admin

'New era' for British passports as King's coat of arms appears on cover

The King’s coat of arms will be on the front of all new British passports from December, the Home Office has announced.

The inside pages have also been updated to include images of natural landscapes from all four UK nations, including Ben Nevis, the Lake District, Three Cliffs Bay, and the Giant’s Causeway.

The Home Office said the new passport is the first wholly new design in five years, and it will be the “most secure passport ever produced”.

It will include the latest anti-forgery technology, including new holographic and translucent features.

The updated features will improve verification and make passports significantly more resistant to forgery or tampering, the Home Office said.

Migration and citizenship minister Mike Tapp said: “The introduction of His Majesty’s arms, iconic landscapes, and enhanced security features marks a new era in the history of the British passport.

“It also demonstrates our commitment to outstanding public service – celebrating British heritage while ensuring our passports remain among the most secure and trusted in the world for years to come.”

The Home Office has confirmed that passports bearing Queen Elizabeth II‘s coat of arms will remain valid until their printed expiry date.

However, it advised travellers to check their passports’ validity and renew them well in advance of any upcoming trips.

The first modern British passport was introduced over a hundred years ago, in 1915.