Britain’s Sunak promises ‘fundamental change’ to party faithful

MANCHESTER – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak set out his mission to fundamentally change the country during his Conservative Party’s conference on Wednesday, promising to overturn a political system that prefers the “easy decision, not the right one”.

Trailing the opposition Labour Party in the opinion polls before a national election expected in 2024, Mr Sunak aimed to rally Conservative members with a call to action, in all but the last roll of the dice to reset his premiership.

But, as the conference in the northern English city of Manchester drew to an end, his attempt to revitalise his tenure by promising action rather than empty words was largely overshadowed by a row over the future of a high-speed train line.

After a year in power, Mr Sunak took to the stage at what could be his last party conference to say he will do things differently, prioritising long-term decisions above short-term opportunism.

“Politics doesn’t work the way it should. We’ve had 30 years of a political system which incentivises the easy decision, not the right one. Thirty years of vested interests standing in the way of change,” he said.

“Our political system is too focused on short-term advantage, not long-term success... Our mission is to fundamentally change our country.”

His message risks being undermined by a row over the HS2 high-speed railway.

Ending days of speculation over the second phase of the project, which would have involved a line to Manchester, the host city of his party’s conference, he said: “I’m ending this long-running saga. I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project. And in its place, we will reinvest every single penny... in hundreds of new transport projects in the north and the midlands, across the country.”

To applause from a packed conference hall, he told those who first backed the project years ago that the circumstances in Britain had changed.

Mr Sunak and finance minister Jeremy Hunt have attacked the eye-watering costs of a project that has been dogged by delays and large increases to its budget, which estimates say could hit £100 billion (S$165 billion).

Mr Sunak also took aim at Labour leader Keir Starmer, a taste of what is gearing up to be an ugly election campaign.

“The Labour Party have set out their stall: To do and say as little as possible and hope no one notices. They want to take people’s votes for granted and keep doing politics the same old way,” he will say.

“It is about power for the sake of power. It is, in short, everything that is wrong with our politics.” REUTERS