Conservative achievements under Rishi Sunak

When Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, he had to deliver the immediate relief people needed and provide their families with peace of mind. So his original actions and the targets he set included supporting people with the cost of living, paying half their energy bills and reducing inflation, seeking to cut NHS waiting lists, and taking action to reduce small boat crossings which are down by a fifth this year compared with last year.

• But for the last 30 years, there has been too much short-term political decision making, taking the easy way out rather than fixing the underlying problems. The Prime Minister is determined to change that,

• That is why the PM has taken a series of long-term decisions over the last year to deliver the change this country needs – including tackling the costs of Net Zero; securing the Windsor Framework; reinvesting HS2 funding in local transport projects; and implementing the NHS’s first ever long-term workforce plan.

• There’s more to do, but this Government will keep taking the long-term action needed so we can change our country for the better and ensure a brighter future for every hardworking family.

Achievements in Brief:

• Making good progress to halve inflation – there is more to do, but inflation is down to 6.7 per cent from over 10 per cent. We’ve helped people with the cost of living, including paying half of people’s energy bills last winter – paid for by our windfall tax on energy companies (ONS, Inflation and price indices, 18 October 2023, link).

• Delivering Net Zero in a more proportionate way, saving families £5,000, £10,000, £15,000. Our new path to Net Zero will bring people along with us, and importantly reduce the costs on hard working people (PMO, Speech, 20 September 2023, link).

• Scrapping the second leg of HS2 and investing £36 billion in local transport projects. We’ve delivered Network North from cancelling the out-of-control costs of HS2, delivering £36 billion worth of transport upgrades right across our country and keeping bus fares capped at £2 (DfT, Policy Paper, 4 October 2023, link)).

• Creating the first smokefree generation so children have a brighter future. Our plan means children turning 14 this year or younger can never buy cigarettes creating the first smokefree generation and transforming health outcomes (DHSC, Policy Paper, 12 October 2023, link).

• Introducing the Advance British Standard, giving children a brighter future. This will bring T Levels and A Levels into parity and give students more breadth in studies, with the Advance British Standard, so the children of today are equipped for the future (PMO, News Story, 4 October 2023, link).

• Delivering a Long-Term Plan for Towns, giving 55 towns across the country £20 million each to invest into their local community over the next ten years (DLUHC, Guidance, 1 October 2023, link).

• Expanding free childcare to cut costs for families and support families into work. We will double the current entitlement meaning working parents will be able to access 30 hours of free childcare a week for 38 weeks a year, from the point their child is 9 months to when their child starts school, helping parents back into work (HM Treasury, Policy Paper, 15 March 2023, link).

• Passing the Public Order Act, keeping eco-zealots from disrupting daily life. Our Act means Just Stop Oil protests are now broken up in under 10 minutes. Since 2022, we have arrested over 750 people relating to Just Stop Oil protest (Home Office, Policy Paper, 30 August 2023, link).

• Recruiting a record number of police officers, helping to cut crime. We have met our manifesto commitment of recruiting 20,000 more police officers, meaning there are now over 149,500 officers in forces across England and Wales – the highest number on record (Home Office, National Statistics, 26 July 2023, link).

• Crime has fallen by 54 per cent (excluding fraud and computer misuse). Since 2010 overall crime (excluding fraud and computer misuse) has fallen by 54 per cent. Neighbourhood crime including thefts, robberies and burglaries is also down 51 per cent as well as violent crime falling by 41 per cent (ONS, Crime in England and Wales: year ending June 2023, 19 October 2023, link).

• Introducing tough Minimum Safety Levels legislation, ensuring our public services cannot be ground to a halt by political strike action. The public rightly expect essential services to be there when they need them – whether that’s getting the train to work or knowing that you can call an ambulance in times of emergency – despite Labour’s consistent opposition (BAT, Press Release, 20 July 2023, link).

• Backing the first ever long-term workforce plan in the 75-year history of the NHS, making sure we have the doctors, nurses and healthcare works in our NHS for the long-term. Under the fully costed plan we will train more doctors, doubling the number of GPs, and increase the number of nurses in training, which will deliver 24,000 nurses a year. This will put the NHS on a footing to tackle the next 75 years and end the absurdity of having to either rely on expensive agency staff or importing tens of thousands of doctors and nurses (NHS England, NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, 30 June 2023, link).

• Unlocking legacy Brexit issues by securing the Windsor Framework. This approach has resolved the problems with the Northern Ireland protocol ensuring we can take Britain forward (House of Commons Library, Northern Ireland protocol: Windsor Framework, 21 March 2023, link).

• Passing legislation to keep more of the NHS’ most experienced professionals in place for longer. We scrapped Pension Tax on Senior NHS Consultants meaning that these highly trained professionals now have one of the most generous pension schemes in the country, helping to keep experienced doctors in the NHS (HM Treasury, Policy Paper, 15 March 2023, link).

• Our children are now the best readers in the western world. Our children have risen nine places in the global league tables for maths and reading – making them the best readers in the western world. Thanks to our high school standards, 88 per cent of schools are now good or outstanding, up 18 per cent since 2010 (PMO, News Story, 4 October 2023, link).

• Clamping down on rip off degree courses that have high drop-out rates, don’t lead to good jobs and leave young people with poor pay and high debts. These changes will make sure the system is not just fair for students, but it’s also fair for taxpayers footing the bill (DfE, Press Release, 17 July 2023, link).

• Expanding our long-term energy security with more oil, gas, and small nuclear reactors. Putin’s weaponisation of energy has amplified the need for energy security, which is why we launched a new licensing round for the North Sea. This comes alongside billions of pounds of investments in renewables and the launch of Great British Nuclear, with the goal of providing a quarter of future UK power needs from nuclear energy (DESNZ, Policy Paper, 4 April 2023, link).

• Tightening up the welfare system, getting people back into work and a well-paid job. We have expanded the Midlife MOT and launched Returnerships, giving people the skills and support they need to enable more people to get back into the workforce, building on our strong record of one million fewer workless households since 2010 (HM Treasury, Policy Paper, 15 March 2023, link; ONS, Working and workless households in the UK Statistical bulletins, 30 August 2023, link).

• Using Brexit freedoms to make our financial services, life sciences and technology sectors more competitive. With our new freedoms we are reforming Solvency II, set to unlock over £100 billion of investment, and changing life sciences and medicines regulation, moving to a new model of medicines approval granting automatic sign-off for medicines and technology already approved by trusted regulators in the US, Europe and Japan, accelerating patient access to treatments (HM Treasury, News Story, 9 December 2022, link).

• Passing the Retained EU Law Act, removing unnecessary EU laws. We have made reforms to relevant retained law, and will end the special status of EU law by the end of this year (UK Parliament, Government Bill, 2 August 2023, link).

• Delivering 12 Freeports across the UK, boosting business and create tens of thousands of jobs. With eight in England, two in Scotland and two in Wales, the Freeport sites will benefit from a comprehensive package of measures, including tax reliefs, simplified customs processes and business rates retention, creating tens of thousands of jobs and expected to create billions of pounds worth of investment (House of Commons Library, Research Briefing 2023, 22 February 2023, link).

• Bringing in billions in foreign investment, growing the economy. We brought back £18 billion of investment from Japan, £14 billion from the US and Tata has announced the biggest ever investment in British car manufacturing with £4 billion to build a battery plant, choosing the UK over the EU and creating thousands of jobs (BAT, Press Release, 19 July 2023, link; PMO, Press Release, 18 May 2023, link; PMO, Press Release, 6 June 2023, link).

• Joining new trade blocs, slashing red tape and tariffs meaning cheaper goods to come. We are the first European member of CPTPP, making us a member of an £11 trillion trade pact with the fastest growing region in the word. The deal will slash red tape with 99 per cent of UK goods exports to CPTPP countries being eligible for zero tariffs (BAT, Press Release, 16 July 2023, link).

• Britain has continued to lead the world in our support for Ukraine. We, and our allies, are steadfast in our resolve to support Ukraine, not just in the here and now, but for the long term as well. We are ensuring Ukraine receives the military support it needs to regain its territory. We have given Ukraine a squadron of main battle tanks, further armoured vehicles and artillery guns, thousands of air defence systems, long range Storm Shadow missiles and are training of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers here in the UK (FCDO, Russian invasion of Ukraine: UK government response, accessed 23 October 2023, link).

• Increasing the National Living Wage by a record amount, boosting the pay of two million workers by £1,600 a year. In April 2023, the National Living Wage increased by 9.7 per cent to £10.42 an hour for workers aged 23 and over. This represents an increase of over £1,600 to the annual earnings of a full-time worker on the NLW and is expected to benefit over two million low paid workers (National Minimum Wage, Research and analysis, 31 March 2023, link).