CPC23: Sunak’s chance to set out his vision for Britain.

Conservative Party Conference has officially kicked off in Manchester, and the Purpose Coalition is there in force with several events over the next couple of days. 

Perhaps surprisingly, the party’s annual gathering is one of the best attended, with over 13,000 businesses, universities, party members and journalists descending on the city to engage with MPs, policy makers and more. 

For Rishi Sunak, almost a year into his premiership, the Conference his is - perhaps final - chance to set out a vision for Britain under his leadership. 

The first year of his premiership, beginning in late October, has seen the Prime Minister stick rigidly to his five priorities - growing the economy, halving inflation, reducing debt, cutting NHS waiting lists, and stopping ‘small boats’. After the chaos of the Liz Truss premiership, it is perhaps understandable that the government needed to focus on the most pressing issues for voters. 

But beyond the priorities, we have seen little in terms of a future vision for Sunak - what does his government stand for, and what are the long term decisions he wants to make to shape the country in his image. 

We have - however - in recent weeks seen the Prime Minister start to deviate from his priorities to new areas of policy, including changing the UK’s approach to net-zero. 

That’s why this week at Conservative Party Conference, we can expect to hear more announcements and policy detail around Sunak’s vision for Britain, perhaps around higher education, longer term NHS reforms, and the future of HS2 - the question of which is already hanging over the party Conference. 

We’ll be keeping you updated with key announcements and policy developments throughout the week, and you can find out more about all our Purpose Coalition events at Conservative Party Conference here.