The 400-kilometer-an-hour train was a spark of hope for poor northern England. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shut it down. At the same time, the popularity of the ruling conservative party is only decreasing.
Kirsi Crowley Britannia reporter
LONDON The train running from London via Birmingham to Manchester was supposed to bring jobs, investment and a higher standard of living to the impoverished north of England. Enriching the region has been one of the government’s goals.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak announced at the ruling Conservative Party caucus that a high-speed rail link between Birmingham and Manchester will not happen.
The leaders of the northern cities, regardless of their party color, are scared and the residents are dismayed.
The track started to be planned in 2011. The budget has swelled from 38 billion euros at that time to 115 billion. Too expensive, stated Prime Minister Sunak. Instead, he promises a number of smaller rail projects in the north and across Britain.
The rail project is just the icing on the cake, which threatens to end up on the Prime Minister’s face.
The support of the Conservatives is low
The Conservative Party, which has led Britain for the last thirteen years, is in a state of disarray. Even the staunchly conservative columnist of the Daily Telegraph newspaper, which strongly supports the party Allison Pearson says he’s had enough of the government.
– Sad, tiring and demoralizing, but it has come to this, he writes.
The newspapers have published overwhelming support figures. According to a September study by the opinion research company Savanta, the Labor Party would get 46 percent and the Conservative Party 27 percent of the votes if the elections were held now. Six out of ten voters consider Sunak to be an incompetent prime minister.
With the downsizing of the railway project, the party can win over the whole of Northern England.
According to the majority of Britons, Sunak has failed in each of his five main promises. He promised to halve inflation, grow the economy, cut government debt, shorten treatment queues and stop asylum seekers trying to cross the Channel in boats.
Treatment queues are unbearably long for people. Almost 7.7 million, or about one in seven Britons, are currently waiting for treatment in public healthcare. At most, the waiting list lasts more than two years. A strike by doctors demanding better pay only lengthens the queues.
Stopping immigration is also difficult. The government plans to send asylum seekers coming from France across the Channel by boat to Rwanda to wait for asylum processing. Despite this, more than 25,000 people have already arrived this year in boats.
The party is looking for quick wins
Rishi Sunak still claimed in his party convention speech that the government has the reins in its hands. He described the doctor’s strikes as politicking against conservatives. He said “the boats will stop coming” when the court gives the government permission to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. The Conservatives have said Britain is ready to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights if the plans are banned because of the treaty.
Sunak also praised Britain’s departure from the EU.
– After we left the common market, our economic growth has been faster than that of Germany and France, not despite Brexit but because of it, he threatened.
According to critics, the conservative party, which is at the bottom of its popularity, is now looking for quick wins before the parliamentary elections expected for next year. An example of this is the sudden cancellation of climate goals.
Sunak’s problem is his predecessors
The Conservative Party is also torn by division. Sunak’s predecessors are breathing down my neck. The predecessor who held power for only one and a half months Liz Truss still demanded tax reductions at the party meeting. His prime ministerial stint came down to a mini-budget in which he promised a substantial tax deal without cuts to fund the rebates.
There are still groups within the party that support the prime minister who caused controversy during Brexit Boris Johnson.
Minister of the Interior Suella Braverman again demands even tougher measures against what he calls a hurricane of immigration. He is seen to compete for a leadership position in the future.
The prime minister tried to distance himself from his predecessors. He said the policy was no longer working and promised change.
– People are tired of politics and the fact that politicians just talk and nothing changes. They are right, Sunak said.
However, it is difficult to convince voters of the desire for change when the party itself has been responsible for decisions for 13 years.
Sunak’s only hope is to say that the Labor Party would perform even worse. He barked at the opposition party several times in his speech.