The Student Room Group

Rishi Sunak gives 2023 conference speech

NB: A lot of what was announced may well never happen unless the Tories win the next election and Rishi Sunak remains PM for a significant time.

Rishi Sunak has given his speech to Conservative party conference today.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-67001483

The headline policies include:
Cancelling HS2 north of Birmingham and rerouting trains onto the existing mainline
Investing the proceeds into other transport projects
Combining A- and T-levels into a new qualification with more subjects studied
Gradually increasing the minimum age to buy tobacco so that todays' children will never be able to buy it

We heard most of this in the build-up to the speech so very little seems to have been news on the day!
Reply 1
It's all a bit bitty and full of hot air.

So he is to invest in the north, said every single politician on the planet whilst not actually doing it.
Life means life - who cares
Education for the masses... by 2035 if we are lucky
Ban phones in schools - already done
Manchester to get a tram to the airport - opened around 10 years ago. Catch up!

And I hate his women are women and men are men statement. On that count, he is from Pakistan right? After all, isn't that where all brown people come from? Utterly disgusting and the utmost ignorance.
The Conservatives have been in power for 13 years and have constantly been harping on about "Northern Powerhouse", "Leveling Up", "Long Term Decisions", etc.

HS2 represents their complete failure to commit to any large scale renewal project. Why should anyone trust them to upgrade other northern lines?

The Conservatives have been a disaster for this country, I can only hope they are kicked out of power next year.
(edited 1 year ago)
A “gentle death rattle”.
Not listened to his speech (not that I listen to speeches anyway - they're more for the consumption of the political and media classes) but from the highlights there seems to be very little on the actual big issues affecting the country (e.g. housing, inflation, cost of living, erosion of living standards).
A reasonable speech but as stated, much was already provided to the media.

- £8bn for potholes
- £2.5bn for West Yorkshire Metro (I actually don't like this, i want proper train lines over trams that will go over roads)
- 70 Road upgrades
- New Bradford Parkway station
- Marsden-Hull via Leeds electrification (Calderdale Line)
- Leeds-Sheffield and Newark-Nottingham electrification
- £4bn spread across northern cities for local transport

Those are the things i might notice.

..

Essentially, you should read this in combination with his post by-election policies like deferring new combustion vehicles. It's an attempt to bet on the motorist vote. Expect a March statement to feature a large fuel duty cut should he go for the spring election.
And men are men and women are women.
Original post by hotpud
It's all a bit bitty and full of hot air.

So he is to invest in the north, said every single politician on the planet whilst not actually doing it.
Life means life - who cares
Education for the masses... by 2035 if we are lucky
Ban phones in schools - already done
Manchester to get a tram to the airport - opened around 10 years ago. Catch up!

And I hate his women are women and men are men statement. On that count, he is from Pakistan right? After all, isn't that where all brown people come from? Utterly disgusting and the utmost ignorance.


He’s from India/Bharat, not Pakistan…

Also stating that all brown people come from Pakistan also displays some levels of ignorance.

Honestly Rishi should just invest in improving public transport up north. Not all schools ban students from being able to use their phones in school, in some schools you can still use your phone at break and lunch time but not sure what a blanket phone ban will achieve.

Last statement honestly don’t have an issue with it but I’m not going get into a debate about that last statement. Seems like an irrelevant thing for Rishi to bring up though, there’s frankly bigger issues at stake here.
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by Talkative Toad
He’s from India/Bharat, not Pakistan…

Also stating that all brown people come from Pakistan also displays some levels of ignorance.


Pakistan was part of India. :colone:
Original post by Rakas21
Pakistan was part of India. :colone:

True
Original post by Talkative Toad
He’s from India/Bharat, not Pakistan…

Also stating that all brown people come from Pakistan also displays some levels of ignorance.

Honestly Rishi should just invest in improving public transport up north. Not all schools ban students from being able to use their phones in school, in some schools you can still use your phone at break and lunch time but not sure what a blanket phone ban will achieve.

Last statement honestly don’t have an issue with it but I’m not going get into a debate about that last statement. Seems like an irrelevant thing for Rishi to bring up though, there’s frankly bigger issues at stake here.


Please don't bite. That was exactly my point. If he is arrogant enough to feel obliged to label people based on his own prejudices, then surely it follows that other can do the same to him no?

Where I grew up everyone who was brown was the derogatory term for someone from Pakistan. It is equally offensive to assume the gender of someone.
(edited 1 year ago)
Original post by hotpud


Please don't bite. That was exactly my point. If he is arrogant enough to feel obliged to label people based on his own prejudices, then surely it follows that other can do the same to him no?

Where I grew up everyone who was brown was the derogatory term for someone from Pakistan. It is equally offensive to assume the gender of someone.


Somewhat fair point I guess

Quick Reply