Early evening summary
Sunak has refused to commit to tax cuts before the general election, after Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, called for them. He claimed that focusing on bringing down inflation, ahead of cutting tax, is a “deeply Conservative approach”. He made the comment in an interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. See 12.47pm for a full summary. And see 10.46am for a snap verdict.
Sunak has been accused by the Welsh government and by the Green party of making misleading or false statements about Wales’ 20mph speeding law and the government’s net zero policies. (See 11.14am and 11.34am.)
Greg Hands, the Conservative party chairman, has described Keir Starmer as someone who has “flip-flopped almost 60 times in just three years” and who will “literally say anything that suits him at the time”. (See 3.25pm.) He was speaking at the start of an afternoon conference session which saw all the speakers focus much more than usual on attacking the opposition. The speeches contained very little in the way of policy announcements.
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Gove joins Badenoch and Braverman in saying ECHR withdrawal should not be off table
At a fringe event this afternoon Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, said nothing should be taken off the table when asked about the prospect of the UK leaving the European convention on human rights. The question was provoked by Kemi Badenoch, the business and trade secretary, backing Suella Braverman in a Sunday Times interview, and saying the UK should keep ECHR withdrawal as an option.
But Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, suggested withdrawal would not be wise, because of the impact on the Good Friday agreement (which is conditional on the UK being party to the convention).
This is from Lewis Goodall from the News Agents podcast.
Michael Gove asked whether he agrees with UK withdrawing from the ECHR. Gove says that nothing should be taken off the table.
Tom Tughendhadt says: “I’m always open to ideas- I’d like to know the answers which go along with them. Eg What happens to the Good Friday Agreement?”
Michael Gove asked whether he agrees with UK withdrawing from the ECHR. Gove says that nothing should be taken off the table.
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) October 1, 2023
Tom Tughendhadt says: “I’m always open to ideas- I’d like to know the answers which go along with them. Eg What happens to the Good Friday Agreement?” pic.twitter.com/sN46RiQjpd
Badenoch told the Sunday Times the option of quitting the ECHR is “definitely something that needs to be on the table”. She went on:
People present this argument as being something that’s very extreme, but . . . even in legal circles, a point that they make is that this convention needs updating, it needs reviewing, and we should certainly make sure that we’re able to have an honest conversation [about it].
That debate has not properly happened yet and I think it’s right that the home secretary is trying to start one.
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Susan Hall promised to be the first “female Labour mayor” of London in a slip of the tongue at the Conservative party conference, PA Media reports.
Speaking at a fringe meeting, she said:
In 213 days’ time, [Sadiq Khan] can do whatever he likes, because I will be sitting at my desk in City Hall as your first female Labour – not, not Labour, never Labour – your first, female, London mayor.
Scottish secretary says UK government has abandoned 'devolve and forget' approach to Scotland and now more involved
Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, told the Tory conference that the era of “devolve and forget” in relation to Scotland was over.
Describing the government as “the most active and effective UK government in Scotland in the devolution era”, he said:
We recognised some time ago we had to change the damaging old philosophy of ‘devolve and forget’ – leaving too much in the hands of the devolved administration in Holyrood and allowing the role of the UK government to fade into the background.
Well, today, I can announce the era of ‘devolve and forget’ is well and truly over.
It is dead. It is finished. And I promise you, it is not coming back under my watch.
On scores of projects, we are now working directly with local councils and other responsible delivery partners, and I call that real devolution.
No longer can the failing SNP-Green administration hoard decision-making powers and resources in Holyrood, using it for their own political purposes, rather than the priorities of most people in Scotland.
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The main conference proceedings at the Manchester Central hall have been taking part in the arena which they used to use as the press room; the main hall is just too big for the relatively small number of people who listen to the main speeches. As this clip from Christopher Hope from GB News shows, even with this arrangement, the hall is still quite empty for speeches like James Cleverly’s.
It is stark how few party activists are in the main hall for the big speeches (this is the audience for Foreign Secretary James Cleverly).
— Christopher Hope📝 (@christopherhope) October 1, 2023
The real action is elsewhere, such as a question and answer with Rishi Sunak and other fringe meetings. #CPC23 pic.twitter.com/ZWsPTIoePr
Rishi Sunak has been doing a Q&A with members. We’ve got a picture. But so far we don’t know what he’s said, because it’s for members only, and the media have been excluded.
This arrangement is unusual for a party conference, but not unprecedented. Normally leaders are happy for journalists to report their Q&As. But Sunak was not elected leader by the members (he was nominated by MPs, after the rules were changed to minimise the risk of the voters who chose Liz Truss getting a say for a second time), and some in the party still blame him for contributing to the downfall of Boris Johnson.
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James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, told the conference that he has written to all of the UK’s ambassadors and high commissioners to ask that they do “even more” to help stop the “abhorrent trafficking of human lives across the English Channel”.
He told activists:
Whilst I occupy this great office, I’ve considered the many challenges that we face as a nation and I’ve contemplated the ways of making my department more effective at tackling those obstacles.
For example, when it comes to stopping the boats, we have and will continue to coordinate and cooperate not just across government, but with our international allies as well.
We have collaborated closely with the governments of the countries where these inhumane people-smuggling gangs are based.
But I recognise that we need to keep going, and so today I’ve written to all of our ambassadors, all of our high commissioners, and I’ve instructed each and every one of them to do even more work with the countries in which they represent the UK to help stop the abhorrent trafficking of human lives across the English Channel.
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Thérèse Coffey, the environment secretary, is at a panel with Hilary McGrady, the director general of the National Trust. The Conservatives and the conservation charity have been at loggerheads over the attempted ripping-up of the “nutrient neutrality” pollution law, with the National Trust accusing the government of weakening nature protections as putting the environment at risk.
But Coffey is seemingly trying to smooth relations. She said:
I think I should declare an interest. I am a member of the National Trust and recognise the important work that you do for conservation, for nature and indeed, of many of our fine buildings around the country too.
And when asked by the Guardian before the panel if she was looking forward to taking the controversial nutrient neutrality bill to parliament (see 3.07pm), she said: “It’s Michael [Gove]’s bill, not mine. If it happens.”
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Rishi Sunak has been at the conference this afternoon with his jacket off and his sleeves rolled up. It is relatively warm up here for October, but there does seem to be a bit of a Blair shirtsleeves vibe going on.
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Shapps announces £4bn investment to progress work on new class of attack submarines
Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, used his conference speech to announce a £4bn investment to advance work on a new class of hunter-killer submarines.
The submarines, which are being developed as part of the Aukus security pact with the US and Australia, will be “the largest, most advanced and most powerful attack submarines ever operated by the Royal Navy, combining world-leading sensors, design and weaponry in one vessel”, the Ministry of Defence said.
In a news release the MoD said:
The signing of the detailed design and long leads (D2L2) phase with BAE Systems (BAES), Rolls-Royce and Babcock Marine represents a significant milestone for both the UK and the trilateral Aukus programme as a whole, in the lead-up to build the future class of nuclear-powered attack submarines, known as SSN-Aukus.
The contracts totalling £4bn will progress the programme through the design, prototyping and purchase of main long-lead components for the first UK submarines, allowing construction to commence in the coming years and ensure the stability and resilience of our domestic supply chain.
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Peter Walker is at the fringe event where Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate for London mayor, is speaking. They aren’t letting journalists ask her questions – so he has more time for tweeting.
I’m at a Tory conference fringe event for London Conservatives, among them Susan Hall, and they feel *very* buoyant. Does seem like they think they can win. Time will tell.
I’m at a Tory conference fringe event for London Conservatives, among them Susan Hall, and they feel *very* buoyant. Does seem like they think they can win. Time will tell.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) October 1, 2023
Also on the panel, arriving a bit late – Shaun Bailey. Not yet officially designated “the disgraced … ” but arguably on the way.
Also on the panel, arriving a bit late - Shaun Bailey. Not yet officially designated “the disgraced… “ but arguably on the way.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) October 1, 2023
Oh great. This is an event at which the media are allowed – but only Tory members are allowed to ask questions. It’s almost like they’re scared of having Susan Hall put under scrutiny.
Oh great. This is an event at which the media are allowed - but only Tory members are allowed to ask questions. It’s almost like they’re scared of having Susan Hall put under scrutiny.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) October 1, 2023
First question is a very softball one about whether Susan Hall should mimic Rishi Sunak’s pro-car policies. Obvious answer is that she already does – she pioneered the Conservative war on active travel.
First question is a very softball one about whether Susan Hall should mimic Rishi Sunak’s pro-car policies. Obvious answer is that she already does - she pioneered the Conservative war on active travel.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) October 1, 2023
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Heaton-Harris says economic prospects for NI 'unbelievably promising' - without saying how Stormont might be revived
Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, told the Tory conference that the economic prospects for the region were “unbelievably promising”.
Today some aspects of the Windsor framework, the revised version of the post-Brexit Northern Ireland protocol determining what checks are imposed on good going from Britain to Northern Ireland, come into force and Heaton-Harris said he visited Peel Port in Birkenhead this morning to see the framework in action.
Great to visit Birkenhead port as the new green lane comes into effect.
— Chris Heaton-Harris MP (@chhcalling) October 1, 2023
We discussed the goods that are now able to travel smoothly between NI and GB, the opportunities this provides for boosting NI trade & how we can build on the unique advantages the Windsor Framework offers. pic.twitter.com/EdSliwHLoF
He told the audience.
Let me just give you one stat to demonstrate how the Windsor framework is a major improvement on the protocol and how it will be noticed by the people of Northern Ireland itself.
Over 1,600 new businesses have signed up to our new internal market scheme, meaning more traders than ever want to do business in Northern Ireland.
Conference, I just want to say something about the future of Northern Ireland: there’s always been a lot of doom and gloom around this subject for too long.
In reality, Northern Ireland’s economic prospects are unbelievably promising.
The DUP has said the activation of the framework means it is not possible for them to resume power sharing at Stormont because, if they were part of the Northern Ireland executive, they would have to implement checks to which they are opposed on principle.
Heaton-Harris did not criticise the DUP in his speech, but he said it would be better for the people of Northern Ireland if power sharing were to resume (which would require the DUP to lift its boycott of Stormont).
However, Heaton-Harris did not explain what the government might do to get the Northern Ireland executive back up and running, beyond saying: “I say to my friends in the unionist community we will continue working to answer your remaining concerns.”
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Tory chair Greg Hands claims Keir Starmer has 'flip-flopped almost 60 times in just three years'
Greg Hands, the Conservative chair, devoted much of his short speech opening the formal conference proceedings to attacking Keir Starmer. He told his audience:
Who is the real Sir Keir Starmer?
The friend and supporter of Jeremy Corbyn? The puppet of Tony Blair? Or the mouthpiece of Just Stop Oil?
All we do know is that he has broken every single leadership pledge and flip-flopped almost 60 times in just three years. This is a man who will literally say anything that suits him at the time.
I always thought that the best leaders wake up each morning, and ask themselves: ‘What am I going to do today?’
Some leaders ask themselves: ‘What am I going to say today?’
Sir Keir wakes up and asks: ‘What am I going to believe today?’
Ladies and gentlemen, can I let you into a secret: if anyone likes the association of Sir Keir with flip-flops, I have these: available for just £16.99 here at the Conservative party shop and also online at Conservatives.com, your own pair of Sir Keir Starmer flip-flops and I’d warmly recommend them to you.
But, not once, has there been any clear plan for Britain from Sir Keir. He is not honest with people about the challenges the country faces. He has no new ideas, criticises from the sidelines, calling for yet more money to be magicked up.
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Gove says he wants to use 'first available opportunity' to bring back legislation axing river pollution rule
Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, has said that he wants to bring back a plan to axe a river pollution law “at the first available opportunity”.
Last month the House of Lords voted down amendments to the levelling up bill that would have abolished EU-legacy environmental laws that force developers to mitigate river pollution caused by new housing.
The government claimed that the change would allow thousands more homes to be built, and that its nature recovery programme would more than compensate for the environmental impact.
But peers did not accept those arguments, and for procedural reasons the Commons could not overturn the Lords defeat when the bill when back to the Commons.
Speaking at the Centre for Policy Studies fringe, Gove implied the plan would return in the king’s speech. He said:
Even though we lost the votes in the House of Lords, we will win because we’re going to take the first available opportunity to bring appropriate legislation – provided the prime minister lets me – into the House of Commons.
Michael Gove says he will be bringing a bill to scrap nutrient neutrality to the House of Commons “as soon as possible provided the Prime Minister lets me”. This is to end laws which prevent housebuilders polluting sensitive areas #cpc23 pic.twitter.com/CLmOxkRafo
— Helena Horton (@horton_official) October 1, 2023
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Tories claim more Labour U-turns coming after Streeting says there will be 'high bar' for policies to be in manifesto
Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has said there will be a “high bar” for policies to merit inclusion in Labour’s manifesto.
Asked about the party’s decision to abandon plans to remove charitable status from private schools, and whether further policies might be ditched, Streeting told the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme:
It is no bad thing that we are working really hard to make sure there is a high bar to get into Labour’s manifesto.
That bar is: is it credible? Can it be delivered? Will it make a real difference to people’s lives?
In response, a Conservative party spokesperson said:
Keir Starmer’s shadow health secretary has let the cat out of the bag this morning, admitting more short-term Labour U-turns are on the way.
Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, has said that the government wants to do more to improve east-west transport links in the north of England.
Speaking at a Centre for Policy Studies fringe event, Gove hinted that east-west might take priority over extending HS2 to Manchester. He said:
Everyone wants to know what’s going to happen with HS2 … the prime minister and the rest of us will say more in due course. Everyone will try to tease out of us more than that, but we in this conference will be clear that every transport project has to be scrutinised for value for money.
My pushback but qualification is – if you’re thinking about transport overall, not only north to south, but also east to west, and also critically our transport links within the city regions.
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Truss should have 'had more awareness' and stayed away from Tory conference, says Houchen
At his fringe meeting Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley mayor, also said he was frustrated at Liz Truss coming to conference. He said last year Sunak stayed away to give the short-lived PM her moment and it was “disappointing” Truss had decided to return to hold a rally advocating for her ideas.
He said Truss should not be at the conference in Manchester and he “thought she would have had more awareness”.
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Tees Valley mayor, Ben Houchen, says he would not bet on Tories winning election
Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley, has revealed he would not bet on the party winning the next election.
In one of the first fringe events of conference in Manchester, Houchen said he thought Rishi Sunak holding on as prime minister for several more years was “still possible”.
But he was not overly optimistic about that prospect. Asked by the journalist Kate McCann at an event by the Onward thinktank whether he would bet on a Tory win at the next general election, Houchen admitted: “Not at the moment.”
He added that Sunak needed to “do more to give people the excuse” to vote Conservative.
While he said Labour “doesn’t stand for anything”, Houchen said he hoped Sunak would “accelerate” a fightback campaign.
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The first day of the Conservative party conference normally attracts a sizeable protest, and today there has been a demo in Manchester organised in part by the People’s Assembly, an anti-austerity group.
The Young Communists are there too.
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Conservative MPs need a majority of almost five figures to be safe at the next election, the US pollster and political stratest Frank Luntz told Times Radio. “I think there are going to be some MPs that are going to be shocked on election day because the vote against them could be so high,” he said. He explained:
I would say that if your majority is less than 8,000, you might want to look for another job.
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Eco-energy tycoon Dale Vince was attacked by Tory ministers and members of the rightwing press when it was revealed that he funds both the Labour party and Just Stop Oil.
Since then, he has become much more publicly politically active, and has today been trying to disrupt the Conservative conference by paying for a giant LED screen opposite the Midland Grand hotel, which Rishi Sunak is sure to see on his travels around the Conservative conference.
On it, there is a film playing which accuses the Tories of squandering the last decade, not acting to decarbonise energy and stop spewing fossil fuels, and campaigning for young people to vote for a different party.
Vince has been standing outside in the drizzle hoping to catch Sunak and tell him that his plans to water down net zero policies are an “assault on common sense”. He said:
If you are alive today, the next election will be the most important of your lifetime. By the time this election comes we will have wasted the first half of the vital last decade the UN said we had within which to act – to avoid the worst of the climate crisis.
Nearly 3 million first-time voters face unprecedented obstacles between them and simply voting, deliberately placed in their way by this Conservative government. The voices of young people speak clearly in this film, their voices need to be heard at the ballot box too.
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Sunak says British troops could at some point in future go to Ukraine to provide training – but not to fight
Grant Shapps, the new defence secretary, told the Sunday Telegraph that at some point the training for Ukrainian troops provided by the Ministry of Defence could take place in Ukraine. The paper splashed the story under the headline: “Shapps to send UK troops to Ukraine.”
Sunday Telegraph: Shapps to send UK troops to
— George Mann (@sgfmann) September 30, 2023
Ukraine #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/jvc29RCGJL
On a visit to Burnley this morning, Rishi Sunak said he wanted to clarify the situation given there had been “some misreporting”.
He said that Britain has been training Ukrainian citizens and soldiers “for a long time” within the UK. He went on:
And what the defence secretary was saying was that it might well be possible one day in the future for us to do some of that training in Ukraine.
But that’s something for the long term, not the here and now, there are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict. That’s not what’s happening. What we are doing is training Ukrainians. We’re doing that here in the UK.
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Rishi Sunak is doing a Q&A with party members this afternoon. But, as the Sun’s Harry Cole reports, journalists won’t be allowed to watch.
JUST IN: Sunak’s question and answer session with Tory members this afternoon will be behind closed doors in the main conference hall. Comments at the top will be broadcast but no Press…
JUST IN: Sunak’s question and answer session with Tory members this afternoon will be behind closed doors in the main conference hall. Comments at the top will be broadcast but no Press… 🤔🤨
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) October 1, 2023
Patel defends multiculturalism and suggests Braverman was attention-seeking with hardline immigration speech
Priti Patel, the former home secretary, has accused her successor, Suella Braverman, of attention-seeking with her immigration speech in Washington last week.
Asked what she thought of the speech during an interview on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, on Sky News, Patel replied:
I don’t know what the intention was around that – it might just be get attention, to have the dividing lines that previous commentators were mentioning as we go into the run-up to a general election.
Patel also refused to endorse Braverman’s claim in the speech that multiculturalism had failed. Asked about this aspect of the speech, Patel suggested Braverman had failed to provide “some perspective and context” around the situation in Britain.
She told Phillips:
You and I are sitting here today, we are the products of actual integration, multiculturalism, dynamic communities, people who love our country, want to contribute to our country, along with a hell of a lot of other people that have done exactly the same.
I think that is something we should be proud of in our country.
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Sunak claims putting reducing inflation ahead of tax cuts Thatcherite and 'deeply Conservative'
And here is a summary of the main lines from Rishi Sunak’s interview this morning.
Sunak refused to commit to tax cuts before the general election, after Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, called for them. (See 10.27am.)
He claimed that focusing on bringing down inflation, ahead of cutting tax, was a “deeply Conservative approach”. It was “what Margaret Thatcher did, this is what Nigel Lawson did”, he said. He went on:
This is in the tradition of great Conservative governments, bringing inflation down, because that’s the bedrock on which you build a strong economy. And that is the best way to help people with the cost of living.
Sunak rejected claims that the uncertainty over the future of HS2, and whether the Birmingham to Manchester line will be built, was making Britain a laughing stock. When that was put to him, he replied:
I completely reject that. I speak to business leaders all the time … We’re attracting billions of pounds of investment into this country.
But he refused, again, to say whether or not the phase 2 extension to Manchester would go ahead. (See 9.17am.)
He brushed aside polling showing that being rich is the trait for which he is best known. When he was shown a word cloud illustrating this (see 9.40am), and asked what he thought about it, he just said: “My job is to deliver for people.”
He said that the government would not be stopping councils in England from introducing any new 20mph speed limits. Instead, the government would introduce new guidelines to ensure they are only implemented with community consent, he said. He explained:
What this is about is making sure that the statutory guidance that goes to local councils from government is clear about making sure that councils – which are obviously in charge of what’s happening in their local areas – are doing things with the support and consent of their local communities, taking into account the needs of their communities, and not imposing things on them without their consent and say so.
What they [councils] should be allowed to do in all cases is act in accordance with the government guidance.
He claimed that the government remained on track to meet its net zero targets despite the changes he announced watering down some net zero policies. Environmentalists say he has no evidence for this, and that the UK isn’t on track to meet its targets. (See 11.14am.)
He brushed aside criticism of the party from Richard Walker, the executive chairman of Iceland supermarkets, saying Walker “was trying to stand as a Conservative candidate” (implying he might have a grievance).
He refused to say whether he thought Boris Johnson or Liz Truss was a better prime minister, saying “everyone has great strengths and everyone brings something different to the job”.
He suggested that Keir Starmer had not given a clear idea of what he stood for. Asked if there was anything he admired about Starmer, he did not say anything positive, but just talked about himself, saying “people will have a clear idea of what I believe, what I stand for” – implying that is not true of Starmer. (It was a slightly gauche answer, because people always like to hear politicians be nice about their opponents. For example, it wouldn’t have been hard to say Starmer is good at football, or that he’s a good dad.)
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The security for getting people into the Conservative conference this year is stricter than ever – and appears to be based almost entirely around the worry that protesters might disrupt the event.
For the first time, no liquids at all are allowed to be taken into the venue, the Manchester Central conference centre, presumably to guard against substances being sprayed or poured.
While I was going through the security scanner system at the venue entrance, the man in front of me was stopped after they detected three tiny padlocks in his bag. They were all extracted and taken off “for inspection”, something an official said was due to concerns about protesters.
These padlocks were all tiny, the sorts of things people use to secure suitcases, or attach security cables to laptops. You would struggle to get one around the little finger of a cabinet minister if you wanted to attach yourself to them.
But in the era of Just Stop Oil – and watered down net zero policies – it seems caution is paramount.
In his interview this morning Rishi Sunak repeated his claim that there is a “war on motorists” under way, waged via policies such as 20mph speed limits and Ulez (the ultra-low emissions zone).
That phrase prompted this response on X (formerly Twitter) from Andrew Fisher, who was head of policy for Jeremy Corbyn when he was Labour leader. He says, cost-wise, drivers haven’t done badly.
What war on motorists?
— Andrew Fisher (@FisherAndrew79) October 1, 2023
The war on rail and bus passengers however ...#bbclaurak pic.twitter.com/jbK0ygTaax
And my colleague Peter Walker argues out, in a thread, that Sunak’s plan for motorists may not actually help them very much. It starts here.
Brief, slightly nerdy mini-thread on Sunak’s BBC interview, where he talked about the ‘plan for motorists’. Sunak said he acted because ‘people wanted to stop making life easy for people to use their cars’.
Well, yes – because (to an extent) that’s been policy for years.
Brief, slightly nerdy mini-thread on Sunak's BBC interview, where he talked about the 'plan for motorists'. Sunak said he acted because "people wanted to stop making life easy for people to use their cars".
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) October 1, 2023
Well, yes - because (to an extent) that's been policy for years.
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To point out the obvious, restrictions on driving are not a zero-sum game, even for drivers. If you endlessly build just infrastructure for cars, everyone drives, and you end up with horrendous congestion. There’s an incentive *just based on traffic* to provide alternatives.
To point out the obvious, restrictions on driving are not a zero-sum game, even for drivers. If you endlessly build just infrastructure for cars, everyone drives, and you end up with horrendous congestion. There's an incentive *just based on traffic* to provide alternatives.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) October 1, 2023
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Welsh government says it's 'profoundly disappointing' Sunak wrongly saying Wales has 'blanket' 20mph speeding law
In his interview this Rishi Sunak claimed that the Labour government in Wales had introduced a “blanket” 20mph speed limit in residential areas.
Talking about the new government plan to limit the ability of councils on England to impose 20mph speed limits, Sunak said:
Cars for most people are the form of transport that they rely on the most. It’s the freedom that that gives you, it’s the ability to just get around and do your day to day life. And for too many people it felt like everyone was trying to stop them doing that, imposing on them blanket speed restrictions. That’s what we’ve seen in Wales from the Labour government there, a blanket 20mph speed limit.
Laura Kuenssberg said that in fact the Welsh system is very similar to the restrictions being introduced by the Conservative-run Cornwall council.
And the Welsh government issued a statement after the programme saying that Sunak was wrong to describe the policy in Wales as a blanket ban on doing more than 20mph in residential areas. A Welsh government spokesperson said:
It is profoundly disappointing the prime minister is inadvertently or intentionally, choosing to mislead people about the introduction of 20mph.
It is not a blanket restriction. Speed limits on a great number of roads in Wales are unchanged and journey times take around a minute longer. This will save lives and make our communities safer.
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Green MP Caroline Lucas accuses Sunak of telling 'dangerous lies' about net zero policy in BBC interview
The Green party MP Caroline Lucas has accused Rishi Sunak of telling “dangerous lies” about net zero in his interview with Laura Kuenssberg this morning.
Clearly stung by “inaction man” jibe, Sunak turns into “arrogant & patronising bullying man” on #bbclaurak - telling deeply dangerous lies about #NetZero, sacrificing our future in a desperate attempt to secure his own survival
Clearly stung by “inaction man” jibe, Sunak turns into “arrogant & patronising bullying man” on #bbclaurak - telling deeply dangerous lies about #NetZero, sacrificing our future in a desperate attempt to secure his own survival
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) October 1, 2023
Lucas seemed to be referring to Sunak claiming that the UK remains on track to meet its net zero targets despite the recent changes announced that water down some of the policies that were in place to ensure these targets were hit. (See 9.57am.)
When Kuenssberg put it to him that he was slowing down progress to net zero for political reasons, Sunak replied:
Absolutely not, because I’m focused on doing what I believe is right for the country in the long term.
Here are the facts. We’ve already decarbonised faster than any other major G7 economy. That’s a fact. We all have a set of targets for how much we’re going to decarbonise by 2030. Again, who’s the best? We are – down 68%.
We are going to meet these targets.
Kuenssberg said the Climate Change Committee said, after Sunak announced his policy changes, that the UK was not on track to meet its targets.
But Sunak said he did not accept that.
We are not off track. All these other countries are behind us. We’re ahead of them. We will continue being ahead of them. We have an obligation to meet these targets, we will meet them, that’s what all our analysis says. But we can do so in a more proportionate, pragmatic way.
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Sunak's interview with Laura Kuenssberg - snap verdict
Sometimes the PM’s big pre-conference Sunday TV interview is notable because they use it to announce a new policy. We did not get that from Rishi Sunak, but instead we did get a new personality – or, at least an attempt to delineate one. Sunak was more forthright and combative today (tetchy would be a less charitable description), and he sought to make a virtue of the fact that he would be setting out what he stood for. This is what he said as he wrapped up.
I’m interested in setting out my vision for the country, and people can make their own judgement.
What I would say is, you’ve got to take a stand on things. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me on everything, but people will have a clear idea of what I believe, what I stand for, and the direction in which I want to lead the country. I don’t think actually saying nothing, hiding, is the right type of leadership. I think that’s an abdication of leadership.
This fits with the plan evolved by Tory strategists to present Sunak as the change candidate at the election, while claiming it is Labour that stands for continuity. (It’s not the easiest message to sell, but Michael Gove, who seems to enjoy the intellectual challenge of arguing the impossible, gave it a go this morning. See 8.39am.)
One obvious problem with what Sunak was saying was that, when asked about one of the most pressing issues of the day, HS2, he refused point-blank to say what he believes, and what he stands for. (See 9.17am.)
Another problem is that, when he did take a stand, and refuse to commit to tax cuts before the general election (see 10.27am), he was not giving the answer that many of his MPs, and the papers that support the Conservative party, want to hear.
For many people at the conference, the most memorable takeway from the interview, though, won’t be anything Sunak said, but the word cloud showing how he is seen by voters.
this was the word cloud put to Rishi Sunak this morning by @bbclaurak pic.twitter.com/K0gfuYDty6
— Jim Pickard 🐋 (@PickardJE) October 1, 2023
Yesterday, in a feature in the Daily Telegraph on what the Tories need to do to avoid electoral oblivion, Gordon Rayner quoted a “party source” saying their best hope was to make the next election a choice between Sunak and Keir Starmer. The source told Rayner:
All of the polling consistently shows that the only way to win this is to make it all about the two leaders. If it’s Rishi versus Keir, Rishi wins. But if it’s Rishi versus Labour, or Tory versus Labour, or Keir versus Tories, Labour wins on all of those.
In fact, the polling does not say that – most polls now show Starmer ahead of Sunak on most metrics – and this word cloud does not look like the profile of an election winner.
Updated
Sunak refuses to commit to tax cuts after Gove says they should happen before election
This is what Rishi Sunak said in his interview with the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg when he was asked if was willing to commit to tax cuts before the next election, as Michael Gove was calling for on Sky News. (See 9.44am.)
Sunak replied:
As I said, the best tax cut that we can give working people is to halve inflation.
When it was put to him that that was a no, he replied:
I’m a Conservative. I want to cut taxes.
You asked me about making changes. Change may be difficult, but I believe the country wants change and I’m going to do things differently to bring about that change.
And you saw that last summer. When it came to this question, I said the most important priority was to bring inflation down. It’s inflation that’s putting the price of things up, it’s inflation that’s making people feel poorer, the quicker we bring inflation down, the better it is. And we are making good progress.
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Rishi Sunak said this morning in his BBC interview that the UK remains on track to meet its net zero targets, despite some of the policies that were in place to achieve them being watered down.
But ITV’s Anushka Asthana says the government has not provided any evidence to back this up.
What analysis for Rishi Sunak have that shows we are on track to meet our climate targets in the 2030s? If it exists surely govt should publish? Because all the public analysis suggests his policies from March 2023 and then this summer have knocked us off meeting 2033-37 targets.
What analysis for Rishi Sunak have that shows we are on track to meet our climate targets in the 2030s? If it exists surely govt should publish? Because all the public analysis suggests his policies from March 2023 and then this summer have knocked us off meeting 2033-37 targets.
— Anushka Asthana (@AnushkaAsthana) October 1, 2023
And Tone Langengen, a net zero specialist at the Institute for Government thinktank, says Sunak was wrong when he said the modelling implied the UK is on track to meet its targets.
Agree or disagree with the govt position on net zero, but it is plainly wrong of PM to say that “all modelling suggests we will meet our targets regardless”
The truth is that we are off track to deliver on our targets and do not have the practical plans in place to change this.
Agree or disagree with the govt position on net zero, but it is plainly wrong of PM to say that “all modelling suggests we will meet our targets regardless”
— Tone Langengen (@ToneLangengen) October 1, 2023
The truth is that we are off track to deliver on our targets and do not have the practical plans in place to change this. pic.twitter.com/YQZh9abW7l
Here is the word cloud from the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg showing people words people associate with Rishi Sunak.
This word cloud for what people think of Rishi Sunak is brutal… pic.twitter.com/9udtFb6bNl
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) October 1, 2023
Gove says cutting inheritance tax should not be priority, arguing reducing income tax or NI should come first
This is what Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, said in his Sky News interview about tax.
Gove said he wanted to see taxes cut before the next election. He said:
I would like to see the tax burden reduced before the next election.
He signalled that he did not think cutting inheritance should be a priority. Asked what taxes should be cut, he implied cutting income tax or national insurance should come first. He said:
It’s for the chancellor and the prime minister to decide. My own view is that wherever possible, we should cut taxes on work. In other words, we should incentivise people to work harder, we should make sure that they’re better rewarded for the enterprise, the effort, the endeavour that they put in.
Sunak is reportedly considering cutting inheritance tax because it is one of the most unpopular taxes with voters, even though only a tiny proportion of people who inherit money or property are affected by the tax because the threshold is high enough to exclude most estates. Most Tories are strongly in favour of cutting inheritance tax, but Gove, whose parents were not wealthy, has always been more sceptical.
Gove said he did not accept the Institute for Fiscal Studies claim that the UK has made “a decisive and permanent shift to a higher-tax economy”. Asked about this, he said:
I would gently disagree with the IFS. In the past I’ve taken issues with some of these organisations with acronyms that have got things wrong in the past … They are making a projection.
Gove said he accepted taxes were higher than he would like. But he said that was mainly because of Covid and the war in Ukraine.
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Q: Can you cite anything about Keir Starmer that you admire?
Sunak says he does not want to talk about personalities. He says he is setting out his vision for Britain. You have to take a stand on things, he says.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with me on everything, but people will have a clear idea of what I believe, what I stand for, and the direction in which I want to lead the country. I don’t think actually saying nothing, hiding, is the right type of leadership. I think that’s an abdication of leadership.
I’m interested in setting out my vision for the country, and people can make their own judgement.
And that’s the end of the interview.
Updated
Sunak stresses he wants to do things differently.
Kunessberg shows Sunak a word cloud showing what words people think of first when they think of Sunak. “Rich”, “Himself”, “Money” and “The rich” are some of the most common responses.
Sunak says he is focusing on delivering for people. He cites the net zero changes as an example. He says people will save £5,000, £10,000, £15,000 from the changes to the boiler rules he announced.
Kuenssberg says these figures are disputed. Relatively few people might be affected, she suggests.
Sunak criticises Kuenssberg for saying inflation was not a tax. But it is a tax, he says, because it increases costs for ordinary people. Kuenssberg points out, rightly, that cutting inflation is not a tax cut.
Q: Will you commit to cutting tax before the election, as Michael Gove is calling for?
Sunak says the best tax cut he can offer now is to halve inflation.
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Sunak claims Iceland boss criticising Tories is aggrieved he was not chosen as candidate
Kuenssberg shows Sunak a clip of Richard Walker, the head of Iceland, and until now a Tory supporter, saying the Conservative party is “out of touch with the needs of business, of the environment and the everyday people my business touches and serves”.
Sunak says Walker wanted to be a Tory candidate. He implies Walker has a grievance.
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Kuenssberg says businesses are concerned about the uncertainty around HS2. That affects investors, she says.
Sunak insists that businesses are happy to invest in the UK.
Sunak again refuses to say if HS2 extension to Manchester will go ahead
Q: Will HS2 come to Manchester?
Sunak says he will not comment on the speculation.
Q: You are PM. This is not speculation. You are the PM. It’s your decision. Will it happen or not?
Sunak says there are spades in the ground. He is not going to comment on speculation.
Just today the government has announced a plan to help towns level up, he says. (See 8.54am.)
Q: A Conservative government told councils to bring in clean air zones. A Conservative mayor introduced Ulez in London. And Conservative councillors are introducing 20mph speed limits. You have come to this lately, haven’t you?
Sunak says as chancellor he cut fuel duty.
He says he charted a new course on net zero. That was not “some knee-jerk reaction to the Uxbridge byelection”. He had been concerned about the impact of the net zero policy for some time, he says.
Q: But you supported the net zero targets when Boris Johnson introduced them. Did you have concerns about them then?
Sunak says he raised concern at the time about this.
He says, when a carbon budget is set, the country should consider what policies are needed to achieve this.
He wants to be different, by being honest with people about the upfront changes that will be required.
Q: Almost all environmental experts says that your net zero changes will slow down the progress to net zero, and that you are doing this for political reasons, because net zero is unpopular with some of your party.
Sunak says that is not the case. The UK is decarbonising faster than other countries, he says.
Q: The watchdog says you are off track.
We’re not, says Sunak. He says the UK can meet these targets in a more proportionate way.
If people disagree, they must explain why it is right to impose costs on families.
Updated
The Rishi Sunak interview is starting.
Q: One of the councils declaring a 20mph limit is Cornwall council, which is Tory. Are they declaring a war on motorists?
Sunak says many motorists feel that life if being made more difficult for them.
Q: Will you stop Tory councils doing this?
Sunak says his motoring plan is about ensuring things are done with residents’ consents. They can’t be part of a “war on motorists”. He says policies like blanket 20mph limits and Ulez are not right for the people.
Q: Will you stop councils introducing 20mph limits as a default?
Sunak says the government will make sure the guidance going to councils is clear. Councils have to act with the support of their communities.
Q: And if they have consent, they can act?
Sunak says the guidance will be set out soon.
He says the number of people signing a petition against this in Wales shows how strongly people feel about this.
Updated
The BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg is starting. As well as Rishi Sunak, Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, is also being interviewed.
Q: Do you still think we’ve had enough of experts?
Gove said when he said that during the Brexit campaign, he was referring to economic forecasters. He says:
Economic forecasting was invented to make astrology look respectable.
In other areas, like science, experts are valuable, he says.
And that’s the end of that interview.
The government has today announced a plan for a new £1bn fund for towns. Trevor Phillips says that it just involves 55 towns getting £20m each, over 10 years. He says the National Lottery gives out more power year.
Gove does not accept that the money is insignificant. He claims that this money will be on top of other money going to towns.
Q: Suella Braverman said last week that multiculturalism has failed in the UK. What do you think she meant, and do you agree?
Gove says he thinks she was saying the UK welcomes people, but that it’s important to have a common approach. There should be a consensus around certain liberal principles.
Q: Putting people on barges is not a welcoming approach. Braverman is not using warm and welcoming language?
Gove says the UK has welcomed thousands of people from countries like Ukraine and Hong Kong and Afghanistan. But people arriving because they were cooperating with people smugglers are in a different category, he says.
Q: How are you going to say you are still committed to levelling up if you scrap the HS2 link to Manchester?
Gove says rail is important, but other transport investments matter too.
Q: But, if HS2 is scrapped, they will say you are not levelling up?
Gove says levelling up is about more than one project. The metro mayors like Andy Burnham recognise that, he says. “You don’t bake a cake with only one ingredient.”
Here is more on what Michael Gove has been saying on tax.
Michael Gove says the Tories should prioritise tax cuts for working people - ie not inheritance tax
‘My own view is that wherever possible we should cut taxes on work - we should incentivise people to work harder’
Michael Gove says the Tories should prioritise tax cuts for working people - ie not inheritance tax
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) October 1, 2023
'My own view is that wherever possible we should cut taxes on work - we should incentivise people to work harder'
Gove tells @TrevorPTweets “taxes are higher than we would want them to be” and says he would “like to see the tax burden reduced before the next election.” And * where* should it fall? His view: “we should cut taxes in work. We should incentivise people to work harder.”
Gove tells @TrevorPTweets “taxes are higher than we would want them to be” and says he would “like to see the tax burden reduced before the next election.” And * where* should it fall? His view: “we should cut taxes in work. We should incentivise people to work harder.”
— Mollie Malone (@Mollie_Malone1) October 1, 2023
Gove says he wants to see taxes cut before election
Gove says he would like to see the tax burden reduced before the next election.
I would like to see the tax burden reduced before the next election.
Updated
Gove claims Labour is offering 'continuity' politics, while Sunak proposing alternative, long-term approach
At the start of his interview, Michael Gove was asked to sum up the PM’s message for the week. Quite audaciously, he argued that Labour would carry on with the politics of the past, while Rishi Sunak would be offering something different. He said:
I think the prime minister will be drawing a contrast between the long-term decisions that he’s taking and the approach that Labour would take in office, which essentially would be a continuity of the short-term, to my mind superficial, approach that has scarred politics in the past.
Alert readers will remember that it is Sunak and Gove’s party that has been in power for the past 13 years.
Updated
Michael Gove says he wants to stop councils introducing four-day working week for staff
Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, is about to be interviewed by Trevor Phillips on his Sky News programme.
Gove has given an interview to the Sun on Sunday. It leads on Gove saying he might legislate to stop councils introducing a four-day working week for staff. Gove told the paper:
People who pay council tax work five days a week or longer.
They deserve 100 per cent of the service, not 80 per cent. The idea that everyone should be slacking in this way at the expense of hard-working taxpayers is completely wrong.
In lockdown, it was important to make sure people, where possible, could work from home. That’s because we had a global pandemic.
It’s not a lifestyle shift — slacking, quiet quitting, all the rest of it. That is just a way of having some people maintain their quality of life at the expense of others.
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Rishi Sunak to be interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg as Tory conference opens
Good morning. Rishi Sunak is in Manchester for his first Conservative party conference as leader. Given there is talk of next year’s conferences being cancelled to make time for an autumn election, it is not impossible that it will be his last. He is determined to use this as a reset moment, which is why there has been a hyperactive bout of policies being announced or floated over the last fortnight, but the electoral outlook is grim. Three developments in the news as the event opens show just how bad things are.
1) The opinion polls suggest recovery is near impossible. Some polling companies have picked up a Conservative bounce since Sunak gave his net zero speech, delaying some green measures, but other pollsters are showing no gain at all and, overall, the situation remains very bleak. Today the Observer publishes Opinium polling suggesting that a third of those who voted Conservative in 2019 now intend to switch to other parties.
The Observer: Education ministry keeps secret files on critics of schools policy #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/3dq0MdjQkd
— George Mann (@sgfmann) September 30, 2023
And the Independent has published an article by Prof Sir John Curtice, Britain’s leading psephologist, in which he says:
The party finds itself on average 18 points behind Labour in the polls – little better than the position 12 months ago after Liz Truss was displaced as prime minister by Rishi Sunak …
The Conservatives appear to be heading unwaveringly on a course that leads towards heavy defeat in an election that is now at most little more than a year away.
Independent: Tories heading for election wipeout, says top pollster #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/83nfxJvS0C
— George Mann (@sgfmann) September 30, 2023
2) Cabinet ministers are already preparing for the next leadership contest. Sunak wants to use Manchester to show that there is more to him than dull managerialism and that he has a vision for how he wants to change Britain. But there is some evidence that the party, and the media, are more interested in who comes next. The Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday are splashing on interviews with Kemi Badenoch, the business and trade secretary, and Suella Braverman, the home secretary, respectively. Badenoch and Braverman are two of the favourites to succeed Sunak.
Sunday Times: Millionaire philanthropist ‘broke trafficking laws to exploit women for sex’ #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/JYi9T0QZtW
— George Mann (@sgfmann) September 30, 2023
Mail on Sunday: Don’t lecture us from St Tropez on
— George Mann (@sgfmann) September 30, 2023
migrants, Elton #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/aN4sbokaRl
3) Conservative MPs are going rogue over tax. As conference starts, more than 30 Tory MPs have signed the “tax pledge”, promising not to vote for any more taxes that would raise the overall tax burden. Sunak wants to bring down taxes, and so theoretically this is in line with party policy. But promising to lower the tax burden in all circumstances is similar to the policy that William Hague was forced to abandon when he was Tory leader. He accepted the policy was unrealistic, because in some economic circumstances taxes have to go up. Liz Truss, the former PM, is among the Tories who has signed the pledge.
I signed the tax pledge pic.twitter.com/zFzdnX0XiX
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) September 30, 2023
A stronger leader would be able to tell MPs like Truss that if they want to be candidates at the next election, they should be bound by the party’s manifesto, not a pledge drawn up by Sir Jake Berry. But Sunak does not have the authority to stop this, just as John Major could not stop many Tory candidates pledging in the 1997 election never to back joining the single currency, even though Major, and the official party manifesto, did not rule this out.
Sunak is doing a major interview this morning with Laura Kuenssberg, so we may hear his response.
Here is the agenda for the day.
8.30am: Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, and Dame Priti Patel, the former home secretary, are interviewed on Sky’s Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.
9am: Rishi Sunak is interviewed on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
Lunchtime: Gove and Gillian Keegan are among the cabinet ministers taking part in fringe events. Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley mayor, is also speaking at a fringe event.
2pm: Greg Hands, the Conservative party chairman, opens the conference.
2.15pm: Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, opens a session on Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. There are also contributions from Andrew RT Davies, the Welsh Conservative leader, David TC Davies, the Welsh Secretary, Douglas Ross, the Scottish Conservative leader, and Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary.
3.30pm: Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, speaks.
3.30pm: Susan Hall, the Conservative London mayoral candidate, speaks at a fringe event.
3.45pm: James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, speaks to the conference.
5pm: Gove and Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, take part in a fringe event on the future of Conservatism.
If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a laptop or a desktop. This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting, too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line; privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate); or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.
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