Rishi Sunak is in Manchester for what could be the final party conference ahead of next year’s election – and, if that vote goes as many expect, his last as Tory leader. In order to avoid that fate, the Prime Minister hopes to use the annual meet to enter a more pro-active stage of his premiership, in which he will start to change things (such as on net zero) and speak ‘hard truths’ even if it leads to a backlash in parts of his party. Sunak has been offered a small ray of light overnight with a new Opinium poll suggesting Labour’s poll lead has fallen to 10 points. Were the Tories to get to below a ten-point lead, this is the point ministers believe the next election starts to look competitive.
Appearing on the Laura Kuenssberg show, Sunak tried to set out his stall in what frequently became a tetchy exchange between himself and the BBC presenter – the PM spoke over her at one point as he argued inflation was a tax and therefore bringing it down amounts to a tax cut. He declined to promise further tax cuts ahead of the election. There was an uncomfortable exchange on HS2 as the Prime Minister refused to say what would happen to the proposed Birmingham to Manchester leg (despite much speculation it will be axed). This led to Kuenssberg accusing him of ‘wobbling’, to which he replied: ‘I reject that’.
Where Sunak sounded the most confident was on net zero. He declared that there cannot be a ‘war on motorists’ – but admitted that while he can change government guidance to councils on 20mph speed limits, it is ultimately a decision for democratically elected councils.
When Kuenssberg suggested that Sunak had reneged on a 2019 manifesto pledge by pushing back net zero commitments, he argued back that this was simply wrong – as the 2050 target remains, he was simply changing the method to get there: ‘They’re set in law, there are over a hundred different polices to get us to net zero’. He pointed to his record as chancellor – where he ‘cut fuel duty by a record amount’ – as evidence he has long held these views.
This led to Kuenssberg accusing him of ‘wobbling’, to which he replied: ‘I reject that’
When she put to him that a word cloud of words voters most associated with Sunak saw ‘rich’ come out on top, he responded by saying that he was the one trying to save those who can’t afford £5,000 – £15,000 on electric vehicles or moving to a heat pump. It showed that Sunak is at least confident with his policy pivot, a theme he will elaborate on in his leader’s speech.
‘We’re going to do things differently, we’re going to change how we do politics,’ he said. The word ‘change’ was used by Sunak multiple in the interview. As I have previously reported, No. 10 believe the change candidate will win the next election – so he needs to convince voters he is that person. While Sunak has a new message he wants to talk about, a conference that will see his predecessors Liz Truss and Theresa May also attend will serve as a reminder that this is ultimately a party that has been in power for 13 years.
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