I'll keep taking the long-term action needed to make UK better'

RISHI Sunak doubled down today on his bid to be a great reformer in British politics as he vowed there is "more to do" after a series of landmark decisions.

- Nicholas Cecil

Speaking to the Standard on the first anniversary of his premiership, Mr Sunak stressed he would "keep taking the long-term action needed so we can change our country for the better".

He sparked controversy earlier this month by scrapping the Birmingham to Manchester leg of the HS2 high-speed rail link, to reinvest tens of billions into smaller transport projects, after its cost ballooned. He also announced A-levels would be replaced with an Advanced British Standard, an incremental ban on smoking would be introduced, and scaled back climate change action, including delaying a ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by five years to 2035 and the switch to heat pumps, which he argued were necessary to keep the British public committed to net zero by not overburdening them financially.

The radical moves were part of a strategy to present Mr Sunak as a change maker prepared to take difficult decisions for the long-term good of Britain. Polls, and more strikingly recent by-elections in Mid-Bed fordshire and Tamworth, suggest he has yet to convince the British public that he can be this candidate of change at the next General Election, when the Tories will have been in power for 14 years.