The Spectator

Full text: Theresa May’s conference speech

When we came to Birmingham this week, some big questions were hanging in the air.

Do we have a plan for Brexit? We do.

Are we ready for the effort it will take to see it through? We are.

Can Boris Johnson stay on message for a full four days? Just about.

But I know there’s another big question people want me to answer.

What’s my vision for Britain? My philosophy? My approach?

Today I want to answer that question very directly.

I want to set out my vision for Britain after Brexit.

I want to lay out my approach – the things I believe.

I want to explain what a country that works for everyone means.

I want to set our party and our country on the path towards the new centre ground of British politics…

built on the values of fairness and opportunity…

where everyone plays by the same rules and where every single person – regardless of their background, or that of their parents – is given the chance to be all they want to be.

And as I do so, I want to be clear about something else: that a vision is nothing without the determination to see it through.

No vision ever built a business by itself. No vision ever clothed a family or fed a hungry child. No vision ever changed a country on its own.

You need to put the hours in and the effort too.

But if you do, great things can happen. Great changes can occur.

And be in no doubt, that’s what Britain needs today.

Because in June people voted for change. And a change is going to come.

Change has got to come because as we leave the European Union and take control of our own destiny, the task of tackling some of Britain’s long-standing challenges – like how to train enough people to do the jobs of the future – becomes ever more urgent.

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