This week marks a full year of Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister. I wanted to take this opportunity to look back at the previous year, and to reflect on the progress that we have made as a country since Rishi took office in October 2022.
Rishi Sunak has been a Prime Minister focused on delivery. We’re making progress on the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, published last October, spending more than £2.4 billion in order to deliver more doctors, nurses, and dentists. In July, he supported efforts to build 1 million homes by the end of this Parliament with the new Planning Skills Delivery Fund, and a new consultation on reforming local plans.
In December 2022, the Prime Minister launched the £2 bus fare cap, delivering cheaper travel for millions of people up and down the country. In March, we announced the most ambitious expansion of childcare provision in this country’s history, massively expanding the number of parents eligible for 30 hours a week of free childcare. In September, we announced more than £1.1 billion in investment for towns.
More recently, the Prime Minister has set out his ambitious new approach to net zero, which rightly accepts that we must deliver on our climate obligations without sacrificing the economic wellbeing of the worst-off in society. He’s also committed to reforming A-Levels in order to make education fit for the future and pledged £36 billion in funding for regional transport.
Further afield, this Government has worked closely with our allies to defend Britain’s priorities abroad. In February, we agreed the Windsor Framework with the EU, putting an end to post-Brexit confusion in Northern Ireland. In March, we joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Trade, bringing us closer to our friends and partners in Asia. We have redoubled our efforts on AUKUS, a key security partnership, and have continued our world-leading support for Ukraine.
The list of achievements goes on – the ban on XL bullies, delivering 12 new freeports, 20,000 new police officers. This Government has worked to deliver on the real priorities of the public, as we battle the long-term economic effects of Covid-19, and the impact of high global energy prices on our lives. Delivering the basics is not always glamorous, but it’s what the British people rightly expect from their Government.
I want to give particular attention to the Energy Act 2023, which gained Royal Assent last Wednesday. I was delighted to serve on the Bill Committee for this landmark piece of legislation, which represents a significant step forward for our country’s energy security. As the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2023 highlighted, the UK’s energy supply is intimately tied to the health of the global economy.
The Act will help to make us more secure, by unlocking up to £100 billion in private investment for our energy infrastructure. Not only will this mean more home-grown power, making us more energy independent in the long-term – it will also mean more jobs and more economic opportunities, while helping us to meet the challenge of the energy transition.
Closer to home, the Energy Act will create a more efficient energy system in the long-term, helping to bring down costs – it’s expected that the new model will save consumers up to £1 billion off their energy bills by 2050. We’re also helping to roll out Energy Smart appliances, helping consumers to manage their consumption; a smarter electricity system could reduce system costs by up to £10 billion a year by 2050.
I’m pleased to have been involved with the passage of such a comprehensive piece of energy legislation, which clearly signals this Government’s commitment to making us safer and more secure, while bringing down your energy bills in the process.
