Rishi Sunak: One year of taking long-term decisions to deliver the change we need

Today, I have been Leader of the Conservative Party and Prime Minister for exactly one year. It is an enormous privilege to lead our great country, and to have the opportunity to deliver meaningful long-term decisions which will benefit our children and grandchildren for decades to come.

Here are some of my achievements to date – we’ve done a lot in just a year but there is plenty more to come. We have focused on the most urgent priorities. So:

• We’ve reduced inflation by 40% – and helped families with £3,300 cost-of-living support.
  By sticking to our long-term plan, inflation is down to 6.7% from its peak of over 10%. And we’ve provided major support for basic cost-of-living needs including paying half of people’s energy bills last winter.
  
  
• We’re delivering Net Zero in a more proportionate way – so we meet our commitments while saving families up to £15,000.
  In addition, we’re making green technologies more affordable, for example by giving grants worth up to £7,500 to install a heat pump rather than a gas boiler.
  
  
• We’re scrapping the exorbitantly expensive HS2 extension and reinvesting the savings in delivering local transport solutions that people actually need.
  So we’re protecting the much-loved £2 bus fare cap for the public’s favourite mode of transport. And we’re delivering improvements across the country with the £36 billion saved by cancelling HS2 expansion.
  
  
• We’re creating the first smoke free generation.
  Children turning 14 this year will never lawfully be able to buy cigarettes, preventing devastating new cycles of ill health.

• We’re expanding childcare.
  Doubling the current entitlement so working parents can access 30 hours’ free childcare a week for 38 weeks of the year, for children aged 9 months to when they are old enough to go to school.
  
  
• We’re equipping the children of today with the skills and knowledge necessary for success in the future by introducing the Advanced British Standard.
  This is bringing T-Levels and A-Levels into parity while enabling students a broader choice of subjects to study: the perfect springboard for their careers.
  
  
• We’ve passed world-leading legislation to stop the boats.
  With new legislation and securing agreements with countries like Albania and France, the number of small boat crossings has dropped by 20% this year alone.
  
  
• We’re protecting the law-abiding majority from extremists like Just Stop Oil.
  We passed the Public Order Act which enables the police to break up Just Stop Oil protests within 10 minutes.

• We’ve enshrined tough Minimum Safety Levels in law.
  Guaranteeing essential services will be there when they are needed – something Labour and their union paymasters have consistently opposed.
  
  
• We introduced the first ever long-term workforce plan for the NHS.
  This will train up more doctors, double the number of GPs and increase the number of nurses in training. This is already starting to cut waiting lists, while ensuring that our NHS has the workforce to meet the long-term needs of the country for generations to come.
  
  
• We delivered for Northern Ireland.
  By securing the Windsor Framework, we have fixed the problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol, facilitating long-term peace and prosperity in Ireland.
  
  
• We’ve opened the UK up for international trade.
  By becoming the first European nation to join the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership), we are now a member of an £11 trillion trade pact with the fastest-growing region in the world.

• We’re delivering 12 Freeports across the UK.
  This will create tens of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of investment across the whole of the UK, with 2 Freeports in Wales, 2 in Scotland and 8 in England.
  
  
• We’re safeguarding the UK’s long-term energy security.
  Future generations will not be at the mercy of tyrants like Putin, with our investment in renewables, Great British Nuclear small reactors, and new licences for oil and gas production in the North Sea.
  
  
• We’re protecting UK naval security by signing the Atlantic Declaration.
  This will create a new partnership to develop AUKUS [Australia-UK-US] submarines to be built in the UK and Australia, shoring up our defences for generations to come.
  
  
• We’re leading the world in supporting Ukraine.
  Providing Ukraine with the main battle tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery, air defence systems, long-range Storm Shadow missiles; and training thousands of Ukrainian soldiers. We are steadfast in our resolve to secure freedom from tyranny for the people of Ukraine.

• We’re keeping people safe at home with record levels of police recruitment.
  By recruiting 20,941 extra police officers. This means that there are now more than 149,500 officers across England and Wales – the highest number on record.

It’s been a busy year!

I commit to you to protect people’s best interests now and to keep our progress going by making the long-term decisions necessary to provide a better future for coming generations.