From 23m agoKey events33s agoSunak confirms he wants to tighten welfare rule so that ‘those who can work do work’7m agoSunak says he wants to give MPs free vote on raising smoking age year by year to eventually ban habit15m agoSunak challenges Labour to say if they will cancel his new transport plans to fund HS2 phase 217m agoHS2 management to lose control of Euston station project due to their ‘mismanagement’, Sunak says20m agoSunak says north of England will benefit more from new projects than from HS223m agoSunak confirms Manchester leg of Hs2 being scrapped, with ‘every single penny’ from £36bn going on other transport projects28m agoSunak claims UK has been growing faster than France and Germany ‘not despite Brexit, but because of Brexit’48m agoSunak’s wife Akshata Murty introduces him, saying ‘aspiration’ is what sums him up1h agoSunak set to deliver first speech to Tory conference as leader3h agoBraverman will never be Tory leader because ‘common sense’ of party will prevail, says Andrew Boff3h agoAt least one-tenth of Tory donations since 2010 are from property industry3h agoShapps rejects suggestions Braverman’s ‘hurricane’ warning about migration had echoes of Enoch Powell’s ‘rivers of blood’3h agoTory West Midlands mayor Andy Street considering quitting party over HS2 U-turn4h agoShapps says Covid, and rise in working from home, to blame for cancellation of HS2 phase 24h agoShapps says cancelling HS2 link to Manchester will free up ‘tens of billions’ for other transport projectsFilters BETAKey events (15)Rishi Sunak (28)Grant Shapps (5)Keir Starmer (4)Johnny Mercer (4)33s ago07.47 EDTSunak confirms he wants to tighten welfare rule so that ‘those who can work do work’
Sunak says during Covid he set up the furlough scheme, even though he was told it was not possible. He says that was “compassionate Conservatism in action”.
Universal credit, set up by Iain Duncan Smith, also helped. The old benefits system would not have been able to cope, he says.
But, Sunak says, there are two million people who are of working age who are deemed incapable of working.
He says he does not accept that people have become more ill. He says he wants to change the rules so that “those who can work do work”.
3m ago07.44 EDT
Sunak is now talking about small boats. They are making progress, because crossing are down by 20%, he says.
He says once flights start regularly to Rwanda, the boats will stop coming.
He is confident the UK’s approach complies with the country’s internationa obligations.
But he goes on:
I will do whatever is necessary to stop the boats.
(That is code for; if necessary, Sunak is prepared to withdraw from the European convention on human rights.)
Sunak says, by contrast, Labour’s policy is to cook up a deal with the EU.
6m ago07.42 EDT
Sunak says he also wants to restrict the availability of vapes to children. The government will look at flavoured vapes, disposable one and packaging, he says.
Updated at 07.44 EDT7m…
2023-10-04 06:35:01
Post from www.theguardian.com
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