 What is that? Change is saving well million jobs at the height of a global pandemic. Today I can announce it for the first time in our history that government is going to step in and help to pay people's wages. Change is fixing the Northern Ireland protocol after years of arguments. Rishi Sunak hail a decisive breakthrough on Great Britain's trade arrangements with Northern Ireland. Change is challenging the status quo with a new approach to net zero. Change is doing politics differently, setting targets you can be judged. We will halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce debt, cut waiting lists and stop the boats. I just got away with good morning, we're almost at good afternoon. But yes, you're absolutely right. I'm not on the agenda for today. A bit of a surprise addition, shall we say. And a surprise for my husband too. Who has no idea what I'm going to say. When I told our lovely girls, Krishna and Anushka, about being here today, they were also quite surprised. But look, the reason why I'm here is really quite simple. And it's because Rishi and I are each other's best friends. We're one team. And I could not imagine being anywhere else, but here today, with all of you, to show my support to him and to the party. As you'd expect, there's been a lot about Rishi in the media. About who he is, what he likes, what he doesn't like, what motivates him and so forth. Now, some of it is accurate. I'm afraid he does love a good rom-com. The cheesier, the better even. And some of it is not so true. So you'll be relieved to hear that episodes of Emily in Paris are not informing his outlook on the EU. But in all seriousness though, as we gather here today to look to the future of the UK, I'm so grateful to have this chance to talk to all of you about the man who is leading us there. Now, let me start with one word that sums up my husband. And that is aspiration. Aspiration runs through his DNA like it does this party's. Aspiration is what drove his family many years ago to move to the UK. And aspiration is what drives Rishi to build for a better country and a better life for all our young people to look forward to. Rishi and I met when we were 24, when we were both studying abroad in America. Right from the very beginning, I was struck by two things about him. No, not his smart suits or his love for hoodies. He actually didn't own either back then. But two much more important things. His deep love for his home, the United Kingdom, and his sincere desire to ensure as many people as possible have a chance to have the opportunities he was lucky enough to have had. It completely energised him. At the time, I wondered if this passion was just youthful optimism. Today, I'm not sure youthful optimism is a term you can still use about a man in his 40s. But Rishi's energy and passion for the future of this country are as strong as ever. That is why he has been a lifelong conservative. That is why he entered politics almost a decade ago. And that is why it is the greatest honour imaginable for him to be Prime Minister, leading the country and the party he loves. As I said earlier, getting together with Rishi almost 20 years ago was not the easy route. It meant in our early days together a complicated long-distance relationship. But let me tell you, on the other hand, being with Rishi was the easiest decision of my life. He's fun, he's thoughtful, he's compassionate and he has an incredible zest for life. But what drew me to him most was his strength of character. His honesty, his integrity with a firm understanding of right from wrong. It's what I'm still drawn to even today after 14 years of being married. As you may know, Rishi is the son of a GP and a pharmacist. His parents moved to the UK from East Africa with very little. But they built here a life for themselves and for their children. For Rishi's dad being involved in his patient's lives beyond the doctor's surgery was a big part of how he saw his role. Rishi's mum trained as a pharmacist and years later, after saving enough to open her own shop, she too went above and beyond the call of duty to build deep-rooted relationships with her customers. It meant Rishi and his younger brother and sister grew up in a household entrenched in their community in Southampton and they were wholly devoted to it. That love of community grew in Rishi too. From a very young age as the most natural extension of how he sees hope. And that connection with people is the source of his political life. Rishi cares deeply about this party and the values that underpin it. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for the support you've already shown him and for the warm welcome you've given our young family. Please know that Rishi is working hard to do the right thing for the country. Not just for now but for the long term. With honesty and with integrity. That is why he has told some hard truths already and knowing him he'll continue to do so. He shares your values and he knows how much you care about the future of the UK but also about the struggles and the challenges that people are facing today and the potential we all see in a better tomorrow. Not just for a few but for everyone in our country. Just as with our girls he wants the next generation to grow up in a country that offers them opportunity and hope. A country that helps them build rock solid foundations with a deep respect for hard work and the confidence to fulfill their potential and a love for community in all its forms. Sometimes when the going gets tough I remind Rishi that he's fighting for his values. That he's fighting for this party's values knowing that it's a hard road ahead but success is hard one. Rishi you know this you know that doing the right thing for the long term even when it's hard is the right thing to do and I hope you also know how proud you make our girls and me every single day. Conference thank you for letting me gate crash to tell you to tell you a little bit more about the Rishi that I know and the Rishi that I hope most people will come to understand. Now it gives me the greatest pleasure to introduce you to a wonderful wonderful father my best friend and your prime minister Rishi Sunak. Thank you thank you thank you everyone thank you thank you Uxler for that introduction and thank you for always being there for me my wife truly the best long-term decision for a brighter future I ever made. I've been blessed in my life I have a wonderful wife and two daughters who make me proud every single day and I was also lucky enough to grow up in the most loving of homes. My dad was a GP and my mum a pharmacist you did need a small mention of the last summer I know now in so many ways I wouldn't be standing here before you today without them my mum and dad were and are my inspiration thank you mum thank you dad like so many of us in this hall they understood the importance of community and made sure that I did too they didn't believe community was some extension of government rather they understood community is sustained by individuals by those who look out for their neighbor treat others as they would like to be treated they understood the fundamental importance of service it was seeing the difference they made to people's lives that made me want to go into politics now my mother set up her own pharmacy it was a proper family business we all chipped in as a teenager I helped deliver prescriptions and do the books I learned there the importance of being able to meet your commitments and make good on your promises and my parents are long retired now but the Sunak pharmacy left me with a lasting respect for every small family business this conservative party the party of the grocer's daughter and the pharmacist's son will always be the party of enterprise the party of small business I've been Prime Minister for almost a year now we have done good things in that time we've made progress on our five priorities to halve inflation grow the economy reduce debt cut waiting lists and to stop the boats but today I want to share with you my reflections on what I have seen and what I have learned doing this job I have seen up close the quality of our armed forces and our intelligence services truly the finest in the world the debt of gratitude we owe them is why we are making this the best place to be a veteran and I know we will deliver because we have a minister for veteran affairs sitting in cabinet Johnny served in Afghanistan this is personal for him he stood with his fellow soldiers in battle and now he is ensuring that it is this conservative government making our country fit for our heroes we've backed our military with record investment working with ben a great defense secretary we put the defense budget on a sustainable footing and now grant will ensure that our advanced orca submarine alliance with australia and the united states keeps the world safe for decades to come and creates jobs here at home and through our leading role in NATO we remain the bulwark of european security all testament to this country's global reach and influence and our determination to take long-term decisions in the national interest by contrast just remember that not once but twice labor tried to make a man prime minister who didn't believe in NATO who would have surrendered our nuclear deterrent and who blames britain for every problem sekir starmer might want us to forget about his repeated support for Jeremy Corbyn but we never will you can never trust labor with our country security i'm proud to say we've also led the world in providing support to ukraine we were the first country to send western battle tanks to kiv now more than 10 others have followed we were the first country to send long-range weapons to kiv now france and the united states have followed we were the first country to agree to train ukrainian pilots now more than a dozen others have followed i say this to our allies if we give president zelensky the tools the ukranians will finish the job slava ukraine doing this job i meet and talk to inspirational men and women across our country you see that our most potent strength our most powerful resource our greatest hope is our people but what i've learned is that there is an undeniable sense that politics just doesn't work the way it should the feeling that westminster is a broken system and the same goes for hollywood cardiff bay and storm on it is an anger it's an exhaustion with politics in particular politicians saying things and then nothing ever changing and you know what people are right politics doesn't work the way it should we've had 30 years of a political system which incentivizes the easy decision not the right one 30 years of vested interest standing in the way of change 30 years of rhetorical ambition which achieves little more than a short-term headline and why because our political system is too focused on short-term advantage not long-term success politicians spent more time campaigning for change than actually delivering it it doesn't have to be this way i won't be this way conference our mission is to fundamentally change our country the labor party have set out there still to do and say as little as possible and hopes no one notices they want to take people's votes for granted and keep doing politics the same old way it's a bet on people's apathy it doesn't speak to any higher purpose or brighter future it is about power for the sake of power it is in short everything that is wrong with our politics so if this country is to change then it can only be us who will deliver it because if we do not our growth will be stunted more places will be left behind and ever more of our time will be spent debating the side issues and symptoms rather than the deeper more structural challenges we face we won't allow this to happen so where a consensus is false we will challenge it where a vested interest is placing itself above the needs of the people we will stop it and where common sense is under attack from an organized assault we will defend it today i will set out how we will achieve this beginning with a set of long-term decisions to build a brighter future for our children and to fundamentally change our country and conference you can already see my approach in the course i charted on net zero and we conservatives love our natural world we are determined to be good stewards of it in my own constituency it is the beauty of the north york wars and swaledale and wensley dale that makes the place home we conservatives also value frankness and consent we believe that politicians have a duty to treat household budgets with respect and that change only endures if we bring people with us as you could tell by the reaction to my decision to chart a new course to net zero it was not the easiest argument to have but when i looked at the reality of what people were being asked to do the thousands of pounds people would need to pay all of that disproportionately falling on the poorest in society by the way and all of it not actually necessary in those time frames to meet our net zero targets and in spite of us doing more than any other country i concluded it simply wasn't right so i decided to take a pragmatic proportionate and realistic approach to reaching net zero and i won't take any lectures from other countries that have done far less than us or for those or from those for whom spending thousands of pounds means nothing change is difficult particularly for those who disagree but remember this we will still meet our international obligations we will still meet our domestic targets and we will still get to net zero by 2050 we have solved a problem and offered an unapologetic defense of good conservative common sense so as much to the country i make this promise to all of you in this hall as i did last summer i will tell it as it is i will lead in a different way because that is the only way to create the sort of change in our politics and in our country that we all desperately want to see now i came into office in difficult circumstances and i don't want to waste time debating the past because what matters is the future the facts are the facts you can't borrow your way out of inflation and if we want fundamental change in our country we need a strong economy as a foundation that is why halving inflation was the first and most important of the five priorities i set out at the start of the year everything we want to achieve requires getting inflation under control inflation is the biggest destroyer of all of industry of jobs of savings and of society no policy which puts at risk the defeat of inflation no matter its short-term attraction can be right not my words but those of margaret thatcher as true now as they were then i know you want tax cuts i want them to and we will deliver them but the best tax cut we can give people right now is to halve inflation and ease the cost of living and with inflation under control our debt reduction will become easier and as debt falls confidence grows and as confidence grows so too will our economy we need our economy to grow faster and for people across the country to feel the benefits of that like other western economies we haven't grown quickly enough in recent years but don't let labor and the others talk down our nation we now know that we have had one of the fastest recoveries from the pandemic of any major economy in europe since leaving the single market we've grown faster than France and Germany not despite brexit because of brexit we have the largest life sciences financial services creative and tech sectors in all of europe and we have near record numbers of people with the security that a job provides and if we want to keep growing we have to create the conditions in which businesses can drive growth and that's exactly what we're doing we still have the lowest corporation tax rate in the g7 and thanks to the chancellor's business tax cuts we are the best place to invest in the machinery and equipment that your business needs to grow innovation drives growth in a modern economy so we also have the most generous tax regime for research and development in the g7 and our brexit freedoms make us ever more competitive from financial services to clinical trials to agriculture we are creating a more agile regulatory system freeing up businesses to drive the growth our country needs the fact we control our own trade policy now is why we can be the first european country to join the 11 trillion pound pacific trade pack linking us to the fastest growing region in the world and opening up new markets for our farmers and great british products we have new free ports from the Firth of Fourth to the Solent ensuring the benefits of trade and investment are spread across our country and thank you kemi for cutting away brussel's red tape and saving small businesses a billion pounds a year brexit was more than a vote to leave the EU it was a vote to change to become something more it was a statement of our belief that britain could begin a new story one which reached all parts of our country and everyone in it we must keep making the case for taking back control because if we don't our opponents will try and neuter this change to align us with the european union so that we never seize the full opportunities of brexit now we know where kirstammer's heart lies on this issue and we know he can't be trusted on it either first he said he'd respect the referendum result then he wanted a second referendum then he wanted free movement then he didn't he said he wouldn't try and renegotiate our deal then he said he would and then just two weeks ago he was caught on camera telling a meeting of international political politicians that he now just wants to follow all the EU rules the irony isn't lost on me while we're busy thinking about the future of the united kingdom kirstammer's just banging on about europe you just cannot know what you're going to get with him the only thing that is certain is that it won't be what he's promising you but the worst thing about secure is that he just says whatever he thinks will benefit him the most doesn't matter whether he can deliver it doesn't matter if it's true it doesn't matter if he said the opposite just a few weeks or months ago he is the walking definition of the 30 year political status quo i am here to end that is why we have to beat him and conference that is why we will now if we are to create change and drive growth across our country then we must get our infrastructure right a false consensus has taken root that all that matters are links between our big conurbations this consensus said that our national economic regeneration should be driven by cities at the exclusion of everywhere else it said that the most important connections those cities could have was to London and not anywhere else and it said that the only links that mattered were north to south not east to west what we really need though is better transport connections in the north a new network north that will join up our great towns and cities in the north and midlands i wanted to come here to Manchester today to say that this will be our priority our focus our project HS2 is the ultimate example of the old consensus the result is a project whose costs have more than doubled which has been repeatedly delayed and it is not scheduled to reach here in Manchester for almost two decades and for which the economic case has massively been weakened with the changes to business travel post COVID i say to those who backed the project in the first place the facts have changed and the right thing to do when the facts change is to have the courage to change direction and so i am ending this long-running saga i am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project and in its place and in its place we will in we will reinvest every single penny 36 billion pounds in hundreds of new transport projects in the north and the midlands across the country this means 36 billion pounds of investment in the projects that will make a real difference across our nation as a result of the decision we are taking today every region outside of London will receive the same or more government investment than they would have done under HS2 with quicker results no government has ever developed a more ambitious scheme for northern transport than our new network north this is the right way to drive growth and spread opportunity across our country to level up with our new network north you will be able to get from Manchester to the new station in Bradford in 30 minutes Sheffield in 42 minutes and to Hull in 84 minutes on a fully electrified line there's don't worry there's there's more we'll protect the 12 billion pounds to link up Manchester and Liverpool as planned and we'll engage with local leaders on how best to deliver that scheme we'll build the Midlands rail hub connecting 50 different stations we'll help Andy Street extend the West Midlands Metro we'll build the Leeds tram we'll electrify the north Wales mainline upgrade the A1 the A2 the A5 the M6 we'll connect there is more there's lots more we'll connect our union with the A75 boosting links between Scotland and Northern Ireland we'll fund we will fund the Shipley bypass the Blythe relief road and deliver 70 other road schemes we will resurface roads across the country we'll bring back the Don Valley line we will upgrade the energy coastline between Carlisle, Workington and Barrow build build hundreds build hundreds of other schemes and keep the two pound bus fare across the whole country I challenge anyone to tell me with a straight face that all of that isn't what the north really needs our plan will drive far more growth and opportunity here in the north than a faster train to London ever would as John Stevenson and Ben Houchen have long argued east west links are more important than north south ones and given how far along construction is we will complete the line from Birmingham to Euston and yes HS2 trains will still run here to Manchester and journey times will be cut between Manchester Birmingham London by 30 minutes and I say this to Andy Street a man I have huge admiration and respect for I know we have different views on HS2 but I also know we can work together to ensure a faster stronger spine quicker trains and more capacity between Birmingham and Manchester for the management of HS2 will no longer be responsible for the Euston site there must be some accountability for the mistakes made for the mismanagement of this project we will instead create a new Euston development zone building thousands of new homes for the next generation of home owners new business opportunities and a station that delivers the capacity we need and in doing so for the first time in the life cycle of this project we will have cut costs the six the six and a half billion pounds of savings that Mark and I are making will be taken from the Euston site and given to the rest of the country now the decision I've made in the stance I'm taking will be attacked they will say that halting its signals a lack of ambition there will be people I respect people in our own party who will oppose it but there is nothing ambitious about simply pouring more and more money into the wrong project there is nothing long term about ignoring your real infrastructure needs so that you can spend an ever larger amount on one grand project they will say that we have already spent so much on it that it would be embarrassing to stop that though would be an absurd reason to continue an abdication of leadership they will say that there is somehow a cross-party consensus on the project as I have already said that consensus is wrong for too long people in Westminster have invested in the transport they want not the transport the rest of the country particularly the north and the midlands wants and needs and to those who disagree who will focus on what I have stopped I ask you to consider what we have just created with Network North an alternative which in place of one delayed and overrunning project will now begin hundreds upon hundreds of new projects large and small road and rail bus and train covering the whole country that will be delivered faster that will see every region receiving more investment than they would have done you can't have both so those who wish to disagree with me I respect that but they should have the honesty to admit that they would now be cancelling the hundreds of alternative projects right across the country that people will benefit from instead. Conference I think our plan is simply a better long-term investment of 36 billion pounds of taxpayers money now we need to bring this willingness to make the right decision not the easy one to every aspect of our national life the NHS is important to our soul it is the birthright of every person in this country it was the NHS and social care staff who work night and day to get us through the pandemic now our commitment to the principle of an NHS free at the point of use is immovable and this conservative government is putting record resources into our NHS and social care too but we conservatives know that you don't measure your affection for the NHS just by how much money you put in but how you reform it for the challenges ahead I know that right now waiting lists of patients most pressing concern just as in Scotland and Wales they have risen because of the pandemic and now strikes have led to more than a million cancelled appointments now this is a reasonable government we have negotiated and reached pay deals with over a million NHS workers including nurses and hospital porters we have met the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies for junior doctors and consultants in full we have cut their taxes on their pensions as they requested that they continue they continue to demand massive unaffordable pay rises and that they have chosen to walk out this week says it all this strike is all about politics not patients these strikes are not in the spirit of the NHS this year we celebrate its 75 years of service and one of my abiding aims as your prime minister is to set the NHS up for the next 75 true believers in the promise of the NHS wanted to reflect the world we live in today that means a higher quality service that offers you the patient more choice allowing you to use any provider independent or NHS free of charge if that will get you treated quicker a common sense reform that this conservative government has made now next next Steve and I want to give the NHS the staff it needs for decades we've not trained enough doctors and nurses the result the NHS either hiring staff from abroad or paying temporary agency workers huge freeze and we are ending that with the first ever long-term workforce plan for our health service let me repeat that the first ever long-term workforce plan it says everything about the short termism of our politics that for the last 75 years not a single government has planned for how many doctors and nurses the NHS will need in the decades ahead our plan doubles the number of students training to be doctors and nurses but it is also a reform plan for the NHS with new ways of training and new roles new ways of working all driving up productivity now I know vested interests will oppose some of these measures but we conservatives must do the right thing and make the changes that will enable the NHS to work as productively as the best health care systems anywhere in the world and this is what a long-term decision really is given it takes up to 15 years to train a consultant there's no politics in this investment it's not about credit it's about our kids and their kids they'll get a much better and stronger NHS and that's why we're here that's why we conservatives do what we do up and down the country from whitehall to town hall we're building a better future for the next generation but to ease the more fundamental burden of demand on the NHS we need more preventative care to stop people having to go to hospital in the first place we must tackle the single biggest entirely preventable cause of ill health disability and death and that is smoking in our country smoking causes one in four cancer deaths it kills 64,000 people a year and leads to almost one hospital admission every minute it significantly increases the risks of strokes heart disease dementia and stillbirth now we've made great progress in tackling smoking the number of people smoking is down by two-thirds since the 1970s but if we are to do the right thing for our kids we must try and stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in the first place because without a significant change thousands of children will start smoking in the coming years and have their lives cut short as a result people take up cigarettes when they're young four in five smokers have started by the time they're 20 later the vast majority try to quit but many fail because they're addicted and they wish they had never taken up the habit in the first place now if we could break that cycle if we could stop the start then we would be on our way to ending the biggest cause of preventable death and disease in our country so i propose that in future we raise the smoking age by one year every year that means a 14 year old that means a 14 year old today will never legally be sold a cigarette and that they and their generation can grow up smoke free now we know this works when we raise the smoking age to 18 smoking prevalence dropped by 30 in that age group when the United States raised the age to 21 the smoking rate dropped by 39 percent in that age group smoking places huge pressures on the NHS and costs our country 17 billion pounds a year we have a chance to cut cancer deaths by a quarter significantly ease those pressures and protect our children and we should take it this is not a values judgment on people who smoke i don't believe it would be fair to take away the rights of anyone to smoke who currently does so and the vote on this in parliament will be a free vote as the bar on smoking in public places was and raising the smoking age to 18 was there will be no government whip it is a matter of conscience and i want you all and the country to know where mine is for a conservative measures that restrict choice are never easy i know not everyone in this hall will agree with me on this but i've spent a long time weighing up this decision simply put unlike all other legal products there is no safe level of smoking and what has ultimately swayed me is that none of us not even those who smoke want our children to grow up to be smokers and this change can make that a reality it will save more lives than any other decision we could take and does any parent or teacher knows one of the most worrying trends right now is the rise in vaping amongst children one in five children have used vapes we must act before it becomes endemic so we will also bring forward measures to restrict the availability of vapes to our children looking at flavors packaging displays and disposable vapes now as prime minister i have an obligation to do what i think is the right thing for our country in the long term and as conservatives we have never shirked that responsibility we have always been at the front of society leading it and when we have the tools at our disposal to deal with the biggest cause of preventable illness and death in our country to cut cancer deaths by a quarter to significantly reduce long-term pressure on our NHS and to do for our children what we all in our heart of hearts know is right we must act we must lead conference we must put the next generation first and that is what i will do but all the boldness in the world will only mean so much if we can't similarly deal with matters of fundamental sovereignty safety and control i'm talking of course about illegal immigration it is non-negotiable that you the british people decide who comes here and not criminal gangs those gangs ply a trade that leads to innocent people dying we have a moral duty to defeat this evil and we will now i've never pretended that stopping the boats will be easy at the time i committed the government to delivering that goal the consensus was simple there was nothing we could do about it they pointed to four years of growing crossings and said impossible well conference they were wrong it is not impossible and we are proving it small boat crossings are for the first time since the phenomenon began down 20 percent this year all while entry into europe is up we are by no means where we want to be but don't let anyone tell you we aren't making progress we are and we will get there our new law will ensure that if you come here illegally you will be detained and swiftly removed now i am confident that once flights start going regularly to ruanda the boats will stop coming just look at how our returns agreement with albania has seen the numbers coming from their fall by 90 percent i am confident that our approach complies with our international obligations but know this i will do whatever is necessary to stop the boats and by contrast labor's plan is to cook up some deal with the EU which could see us accepting around a hundred thousand of europe's asylum seekers if your answer to illegal migration is to increase it you clearly just don't get it and that is why we have to stop them and that's because on this and on so many other issues labor simply don't share our and the country's values my values are simple service family work i was brought up to understand the value of work work gives you security work gives you purpose when the pandemic hit we were faced with the prospect of 12 million people losing that security that purpose overnight and once you're out of work it can be hard to get back in i wasn't prepared to cast 12 million people into that darkness i'm proud that furlough not only prevented this that helped ensure our economy recovered more strongly from the pandemic than France Germany and japan never forget the scale of what we did for so many in six weeks we did something that had never been done before from scratch i was told it wasn't possible that it wouldn't work but i got it done furlough was compassionate conservatism in action if furlough was one thing that helped us get through covid then ian duncansmith's welfare reforms were another the old system could not have coped with the pressure in the way that his universal credit did but we have more to do we must end the national scandal where our benefit system declares that more than two million people of working age are incapable of actually doing any that's not conservative that's not compassionate that must change in 2011 one in five of those doing a work capability assessment were deemed unfit to work but the latest figure now stands at 65 percent are people three times sicker today than they were a decade ago no of course not it's not good for our economy it's not fair on taxpayers who have to pick up the bill and it's a tragedy for those two million people being written off i refuse to accept this and that is why we are going to change the rules so that those who can work do work your values and your priorities should be expressed in everything the public sector does too often it is not in too many parts of our permanent state virtue signaling has replaced common sense as suella has said there is no such thing as a minor crime if the police tolerate crime and antisocial behavior in any form will have more crime of all sorts so that's why we now have record numbers of police officers and every crime should be investigated our streets will be safer our community is more secure no one should be afraid to walk home alone at night and our london mayor or candidate susan hall is doing a great job of holding sadee khan to account for his failings on policing londoners you will be safer with susan and i am clear there are some crimes so heinous that those who perpetrate them should spend the rest of their lives behind bars so i can confirm that we will legislate for sexual and sadistic murders to carry a full life term with no prospect of release we are going to change this country and that means life means life now that shouldn't be a controversial position the vast majority of hardworking people agree with it and it also shouldn't be controversial for parents to know what their children are being taught in school about relationships patients should know when hospitals are talking about men or women and we shouldn't get bullied and we shouldn't get bullied into believing that people can be any sex they want to be they can't a man is a man and a woman is a woman that's just common sense we should also never be afraid to talk about the thing that matters most to most of us family whenever you want to talk about family someone whispers is that wise prime minister you'll be accused of promoting a one-size-fits-all view but in this conservative party the party that legislated for same-sex marriage and is investing record amounts in child care we know that what matters is that love cascades down the generations it is family that cares for us at the beginning of our life it is family that helps us learn it is family that sustains us and in old age it is family that lightens the autumn of our days family matters and as proud conservatives we should never be afraid to say that and there's another family that matters to us all our family of nations England Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland today our union is the strongest it has been in a quarter of a century the forces of separatism are in retreat across our country Nicholas Sturgeon wanted to go down in the history books as the woman who broke up our country but it now looks like she may go down for very different reasons we are a remarkable combination of four nations where they proud history and that history should give us enormous confidence in our future my grandparents didn't emigrate to just Leicester or Southampton but to the United Kingdom they came here because our country stands for a set of values we are the home of fair play the best of British we are the place for those who want to add to our national story the United Kingdom has done a huge amount for my family I often think about how different our lives would be if my grandparents had not left India and East Africa all those years ago I owe our country everything and it is my duty to do what I can to help this country take the right long-term decisions for the years ahead the United Kingdom is also the most successful multi-ethnic democracy on earth and our party has led the way on that we had the first ethnic minority prime minister when Queen Victoria was still on the throne we've had three female prime ministers and I stand before you today as the first non-white leader in our country's history meanwhile Labour's last three leaders all live within the same square mile of North London now when the Richmond Conservative Association selected me in North Yorkshire people in other countries couldn't understand it one American magazine even sent a reporter to Yorkshire to write about how a candidate of the wrong race could cost the Tories one of the safest seats in England that they should not have projected their own prejudices onto our country the people of North Yorkshire were not interested in my colour but my character never let anyone tell you that this is a racist country it is not my story is a British story a story about how a family can go from arriving here with little to Downing Street in three generations what does the Conservative Party offer a family of immigrants the chance to become energy secretary business secretary home secretary foreign secretary even the chance to become prime minister when I first became an MP my grandfather came to Parliament to see me as we stood in Westminster Hall on that floor which disraelian Churchill had walked across so many times my grandfather suddenly got out his mobile phone and started to make a quick call I was in new MP and I wasn't quite sure whether phones were allowed there or not and I said none of you none of you can can't you just wait a moment and he replied that he was calling the landlady he had when he had first arrived in this country he said to me I just wanted to tell her where I was standing now I am proud to be the first British Asian Prime Minister but you know what I'm even prouder that it's just not a big deal and just remember it was the Conservative Party that made that happen not the Labour Party now if we want to change the direction of our country and to build a better future nothing is more important than making our education system the best it can be when our party came to power in 2010 our schools were slipping down international league tables now they are rapidly rising of what we have done in government since 2010 what I am proudest of is our record on education with Michael and Nick Gibb we took on a failed ideology we brought back proper knowledge we empowered reformers we gave parents more choice and helped them hold schools to account but perhaps the most profound thing we have done is to disprove the idea that there is something predestined about who will succeed and who won't we have state schools in some of the most deprived parts of the country producing some of the best results these schools empowered by reform don't think that there are limits to these children because of the postcode they were born in rather they demand inspire and deliver excellence a Labour government would never have done this rather Labour pursued the false dream of 50% of children going to university and abandoned apprenticeships this assumption that the only route to success was the university route was one of the great mistakes of the last 30 years it led to thousands of young people being ripped off by degrees that did nothing to increase their employability or earnings potential so we are stopping universities from enrolling students on courses that do nothing for their life chances under us no more rip-off degrees and if you want to know how much i-value apprenticeships look at the fact that in Gillian we have our first ever apprentice to be education secretary today i want to build on these conservative achievements and take a long-term decision to address the problems with our 16 to 19 education system technical education is not given the respect it deserves students don't spend enough time in the classroom a quarter of our children leave education without the basic literacy and numeracy they need to fulfill their potential and our students study too narrow a range of subjects today i am changing all of that pulling one of the biggest levers we have to change the direction of our country we will introduce the new rigorous knowledge rich advanced british standard which will bring together a levels and t levels into a new single qualification for our school leavers first this will finally deliver on the promise of parity of esteem between academic and technical education because all students will sit the advanced british standard second we will raise the floor ensuring that our children leave school literate and numerate because with the advanced british standard all students will study some form of maths and english to 18 with extra help for those who struggle most in our country no child should be left behind third our 16 to 19 year old spend around a third less time in the classroom than some of our competitors we must change this so with our advanced british standard students will spend at least 195 hours more with a teacher and fourth a level students generally only do three subjects compared to the seven studied by our economic competitors the advanced british standard will change that too with students now typically studying five subjects and thanks to the extra teaching time that we are introducing the greater breadth won't come at the expense of debt which is such a strength of our system now our new plan will require more teachers in the coming years so i can announce today that in order to attract and retain more teachers those who teach key subjects in schools and for the first time in our further education colleges too will receive special bonuses of up to 30 thousand pounds tax-free over the first five years of their career our teachers our teachers do one of the most valuable jobs in our society and we should reward them for that and conference i can tell you my main funding priority in every spending review from now on will be education why because it's the closest thing we have to a silver bullet it is the best economic policy the best social policy the best moral policy it is the best way to spread opportunity and to create a more prosperous society it is not just my way conference it is the conservative way i know times have been tough we have all had to deal with unprecedented challenges and i will be straight with you we have mountains to overcome still but today we have made three huge decisions to change the direction of our country we will give britain the infrastructure it needs protect the long-term future of our nhs and cut cancer deaths by a quarter and create the best education system in the western world to set up our children for the opportunities of the future if we commit if we come together we can achieve truly great things we can build a country where work is truly valued where welfare is a safety net and not a way of life where small businesses drive our economy where innovation makes life better where our nhs is properly funded and properly reformed where our children are the best educated in the western world whether that's at university or yes through an apprenticeship where the scourge of antisocial behavior is treated as the crime it is and not some social condition where for the most violent offenders life means life whether people and their government decides who comes here and who can't where the next generation can achieve the dream of owning their own home where the elderly grow old with dignity and where the young grow up with opportunity where decency and mutual respect by communities together where the very idea of Britain is a symbol of hope and stability across the world and where our united kingdom remains united all this and more is ours if we want it but we have to fight for it at the next election the choice the people face is bigger than party politics do we want a government committed to making long-term decisions prepared to be radical in the face of challenges and to take on vested interests or do we want to stand still and quietly accept more of the same you either think this country needs to change or you don't and if you do you should stand with me and every person in this hall you should stand with the conservatives today this party put the needs of the British people first we've taken the decision many should have done but didn't we've ended the HS2 drama and in its place will embark on a full-scale national reinvestment in the infrastructure people actually use and want and the skill workforce who will build it and no more hiding no more pretending in the face of overwhelming evidence too many sons and daughters fathers and mothers are lost to lung cancer heart disease dementia stillbirth and we can change that today we went beyond ideology and put the people first again and committed ourselves to ensure our children and grandchildren can be the first generation that doesn't have to suffer the false choice to quit smoking or not because they will never have started today we set a course for our education system that will set our children up for the opportunities of the future no more ripoff degrees no more low aspiration no more denigration of technical education just the best education system in the western world we will be bold we will be radical we will face resistance and we will meet it we will give the country what it so sorely needs and yet too often has been denied a government prepared to make long-term decisions so that we can build a brighter future for everyone be in no doubt it is time for a change and we are it thank you