person in is the birthright of every person in this country. it was the nhs and social care staff who worked night and day to get us through the pandemic. our commitment to the principle of an nhs free at the point of use is immovable. and this conservative government is putting record resources into our nhs and social care as well. but we conservatives know that you don't measure your affection for the nhs just by how much money you put in, but how you reforming for the challenges ahead. i know that right now waiting list for patients our patients most pressing concern and just because inns like in scotland and wales they have risen because of the pandemic, and now strikes have led to more than i the pandemic, and now strikes have led to more thani million the pandemic, and now strikes have led to more than i million cancelled appointments. now this is a reasonable government. we have negotiated and reached a deals with overi million nhs workers, including nurses and hospital

porters. we have met the recommendations of the independent pay review bodies forjunior doctors and consultants in full. we have cut their taxes on their pensions, as they requested, but they continue, they requested, but they continue, they continue to demand massive, unaffordable pay rises, and that they have chosen to walk out this week says it all. this strike is all about politics, not patients. applause these strikes are not in the spirit of the nhs. this year we celebrate its 75 years of service and one of my abiding aim is as your prime minister is to set the nhs up for the next 75. true believers in the

promise of the nhs wanted to reflect the world we live in today. that means a higher quality service that offers you the patient more choice, allowing you to use any provider, independent or nhs, free of charge, if that will get you treated quicker. a common—sense reform that this conservative government has made. applause now, next, steve and i want to give the nhs the staff it needs. for decades, we have not trained enough doctors and nurses. the result? the nhs either hiring staff from abroad or paying temporary agency workers huge fees. we are ending that with the first ever long—term workforce plan for our health service. let me repeat that. the first ever long—term workforce plan. it says everything about the sure termism of our politics that for the last 75

years, not a single government has planned for how many doctors and nurses the nhs will need in the decades ahead. our plan doubles the number of students training to be doctors and nurses, but it is also a reform plan for the nhs with new ways of training and new roles, new ways of training and new roles, new ways of training and new roles, new ways of working, all driving up productivity. i know vested interests will oppose some of these measures, but we conservatives must do the right thing and make the changes that will enable the nhs to work as productively as best health systems anywhere in the world. applause and this is what a long—term decision really is. given it takes up decision really is. given it takes up to 15 years to train a consultant, there is no politics in this investment. it's not about credit. it's about our kids, and

their kids. they will get a much better and stronger nhs, and that is why we are here, that is why we conservatives do what we do up and down the country from whitehall to town hall. we are building a better future for the next generation. but to ease the more fundamental burden of demand on the nhs, we need more preventative care to stop people having to go to hospital in the first place. and we must tackle the single biggest entirely preventable cause of ill—health disability and death, and that is smoking. in our country, our country causes one in four cancer deaths. and it kills 64,000 people per year and leads to almost one hospital admission every minute. it is significantly increasing the risk of strokes,

heart disease, dementia and stillbirth. we have made great progress in tackling smoking. the number of people smoking is down by two thirds since the 1970s. but if we are to do the right thing for our kids, we must try and stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in the first place. because without the significant change, thousands of children will start smoking in the coming years and have their lives cut short as a result. people take up cut short as a result. people take up cigarettes when they are young. fourin up cigarettes when they are young. four in five smokers have started by the time they are 20. later, the vast majority try to quit, but many fail because they are addicted and they wish they had never taken up they wish they had never taken up the habit in the first place. now, if we could break that cycle, if we could stop the start, we would be on our way to end the biggest cause of preventable death and disease in our country. so i propose, that in

future, we raise the smoking age by one year every year. that means a 14—year—old. .. applause that means a 14—year—old today will never legally be sold a cigarette, and that they and their generation can grow up smoke—free. we know this works. when we raised the smoking age to 18, smoking prevalence dropped by 30% in that age group. when the united states raised the age to 21, the rate dropped by 39% in that group. smoking embraces huge pressures on the nhs and costs our country £17 billion per year. we have a chance to cut cancer deaths by a quarter, significantly easing those pressures and protecting our children, and we should take it.

this is not a valuejudgment children, and we should take it. this is not a value judgment on people who smoke. i don't believe it would be fair to take away the rights of anyone to smoke who currently does so, and the vote on this in parliament will be a free vote, as the bar on smoking public places was, and raising the smoking age to 18 was. there will be no government whip. it is a of conscience. and i want you all, and the country, to know where mine is. for a conservative, measures that restrict choice are never easy. i know not everyone in this hall will agree with me on this. but i've spent a long time weighing up this decision. . simply put, unlike all other legal products, there is no safe level of smoking. and what has ultimately swayed me is that none of us, not even those who smoke, want our children to grow up to be smokers. and this change can make

that a reality. it will save more lives than any other decision we could take. applause and as any parent or teacher knows, one of the most worrying trends right now is the rise in vaping amongst children. one in five children have used vapes. we must act before it becomes endemic, so we was also bring forward measures to restrict the availability of vapes to our children, looking at flavours, packaging, displays and disposable vapes. as prime minister, i have an obligation to do what i think is the right thing for our country in the long term. and as

conservatives, we have never shirk the responsibility. we have always been at the front of society, leading it. and when we have the tools at our disposal to deal with the biggest cause of preventable illness and death in our country, to cut cancer deaths by a quarter and significantly reduce long—term pressure on our nhs, and to do for our children what we all in our heart of hearts know is right, we must act. we must lead. conference, we must put the next generation first, and that is what i will do. applause but all of the boldness in the world will only mean so much if we cannot similarly deal with matters of fundamental sovereignty and safety and control. i am talking, of course, about illegal immigration.

it is non—negotiable that you, the british people decide who comes here, and not criminal gangs. applause we have a moral duty to defeat this evil, and we will. i've never prevented that stopping the boats will be easy, and when i delivered the goal to the government, the consensus was simple, there was nothing we could do about it. they pointed to four years of growing crossings and said it was impossible. well, conference, they were wrong. it is not impossible, and we are proving it. small boat crossings are, for the first time since the phenomenon began, down 20% this year. applause

all while entry into europe is up. we are by no means where we want to be, but don't let anyone tell you we are not making progress. we are, and we will get there. our new law will ensure if you come here illegally, you will be detained and swiftly removed. now, iam confident you will be detained and swiftly removed. now, i am confident that once flights start going regularly to rwanda, the boats will stop coming. just look at how our returns agreement with albania has seen the numbers coming from their fall by 90%. i am confident that our approach complies with our international obligations. but know this. i will do whatever is necessary to stop the boats. applause

by by contrast, the labour plan is to cook up some deal with the eu which could see us accepting around 100,000 of europe's asylum seekers. if your answer to illegal migration is to increase it, you clearlyjust don't get it, and that is why we have to stop them. applause and that's because on this and on so many other issues labour simply don't share our and the country's values. my values are simple. service, family, work. i was brought up service, family, work. i was brought up to understand the value of work. work gives you security. work gives you purpose. when the pandemic hit, we were faced with the prospect of 12 million people losing that security, that purpose, overnight.

and once you are out of work it can be hard to get back in. i wasn't prepared to cast 12 million people into that darkness. i am proud that furlough not only prevented this, but helps ensure our economy recovered more strongly from the pandemic than france, germany and japan. neverforget the pandemic than france, germany and japan. never forget the scale of what we did for so many. in six weeks, we did something that had never been done before, from scratch. i was told it wasn't possible. that it wouldn't work. but i got it done. furlough was compassionate conservativism in action. applause if furlough was one thing that helped us get through covid, then

iain duncan's welfare reform systems was another. the old system could not have coped with the problem is that universal credit did. but we have more to do. we must end the national scandal where our anything system declares that more than 2 million people of working age are incapable of actually doing any. that's not conversative, that's not compassionate. that must change. in 2011, one in five doing a work capability assessment were deemed unfit to work. but the latest figure now stands at 65%. our people three times sicker today than they were a decade ago? no, of course not. it is not good for our economy, it is not fair on taxpayers who have to pick up fair on taxpayers who have to pick up the bill, and it is a tragedy for those 2 million people being written off. i refuse to accept this, and

thatis off. i refuse to accept this, and that is why we are going to change the rules so that those who can work do work. applause your values and your priorities should be expressed in everything the public sector does. too often it is not. into many parts of her permanent state, virtue signalling has replaced common—sense. as it is has replaced common—sense. as it is has said, there is no such thing as a minor crime. if the police tolerate crime and anti—social behaviour in any form, we will have more crime of all sorts. that is why we now have record numbers of police officers. and every crime should be investigated. 0ur streets will be safer, our communities more secure. no one should be afraid to walk home alone at night.

applause and our london mayoral candidate, susan hall, is doing a greatjob of holding sadiq khan to account for his feelings on policing. londoners, you will be safer with susan. cheering and applause and i am clear, there are some crimes so heinous that those who perpetrate them should spend the rest of their lives behind bars. so i can confirm that we will legislate for sexual and sadistic murderers to carry a full life term with no prospect of release.

we are going to change this country, and that means life means life. that should not be a controversial position. the vast majority of people agree with it. and it also should not be controversial for parents to know what their children are being taught in school about relationships. patients should know when hospitals are talking about men or women. and we should not get bullied... applause and we should not get bullied into believing that people can be any sects they want to be. they cannot. a man is a man, and a woman is a women. that isjust a man is a man, and a woman is a women. that is just common sense.

we should also never be afraid to talk about the thing that matters most to most of us — family. whenever you want to talk about family, someone whispers, is that wise, prime minister? you will be accused of promoting a one size fits all view. but in this conservative party, the party that legislated for same—sex marriage and is investing record amounts in childcare, we know that what matters is that love cascades down the generations. applause it is family that cares for us at the beginning of our life, it is family that helps us learn, it is family that helps us learn, it is family that helps us learn, it is family that sustained us, and in old age it is family that lightens the autumn of our days. family matters. and as proud conservatives, we should never be afraid to say that.

applause and there is another family that matters to us all. our family of nations. england, scotland, wales and northern ireland. today a reunion is the strongest it has been in a quarter of a century. the forces of separatism are in retreat across our country will stop nicola sturgeon wanted to go down in the history books as the woman who broke up history books as the woman who broke up our country, but it now looks like she may go down for very different reasons. laughing we area we are a remarkable combination of four nations with a proud history, and that history should give us

enormous confidence in our future. my enormous confidence in our future. my grandparents did not emigrate to just leicester or southampton, but to the united kingdom. they came here because our country stands for a set of values. we are the home of fair play, the best of british, we are the place for those who wants to add to our national story. the united kingdom has done a huge amount for my family. i often think about how different our lives would be if my grandparents had not left india and east africa all those years ago. i owe our country everything. and it is my duty to do what i can to help this country take the right long—term decisions for the right long—term decisions for the years ahead. the united kingdom is also the most successful multiethnic democracy on earth. and our party has led the way on that. we had the first ethnic minority prime minister when queen victoria

was still on the throne. applause we have had three female prime ministers, and i stand before you todayis ministers, and i stand before you today is the first non—white leader in our country's history. applause meanwhile, labour's last three leaders all live within the same square mile of north london. now, when the richmond conservative association selected me in north yorkshire, people in other countries could not understand it. one american magazine even sent a reporter to yorkshire to write about how a candidate of the wrong race could cost the tories one of the safest seats in england. but they

should not have projected their own prejudices onto our country. applause the people of north yorkshire were not interested in my colour, but my character. never let anyone tell you that this is a racist country. it is not. my story is a british tory, a story about how a family can go from arriving here with little to downing street in three generations. what does the conservative party for a family of immigrants? the chance to become energy secretary, business secretary, home secretary, foreign secretary, home secretary, foreign secretary, even the chance to become prime minister.

when i first became an mp, my grandfather came to parliament to see me. as we stood in westminster hall, on that floor which disraeli and churchill had walked across so many times, my grandfather suddenly got out his mobile phone and started to make a quick call. i was a new mp, there was not sure whether phones were allowed or not. i said, cant you just wait a moment? he replied, he was calling the landlady he had when he had first arrived in this country. he said to me, ijust wanted to tell her where i was standing. iam proud wanted to tell her where i was standing. i am proud to be the first british asian prime minister. but you know what? i am even prouder that it you know what? i am even prouder thatitis you know what? i am even prouder that it is just not a big deal.

and just remember, it was the conservative party that made that happen, not the labour party. applause now, if we want to change the direction of our country and to build a better future, direction of our country and to build a betterfuture, nothing is more important than making our education system the best it can be. when our party came to power in 2010, our schools were slipping down international league tables. now are rapidly rising. what we have done in government since 2010, what i am proudest of is our record on

education. with michael and nick gibb, we took on a failed ideology. we brought back proper knowledge, we empowered reformers, we give parents more choice and help him hold schools to account, but perhaps the most profound thing we have done is to disprove the idea that there is something predestined about who will succeed and who will not. we have state schools and some of the most deprived parts of the country producing some of the best results. these schools, empowered by reform, do not think that there are limits to these children because of the postcode they were born in. rather, they demand, inspire and deliver excellence. a labour government would never have done this. rather, labour pursued the full stream of 50% of children going to university, and abandoned apprenticeships —— false dream. 0ne

and abandoned apprenticeships —— false dream. one of the great mistakes of the last 30 years was that everyone had to go to university. it led to thousands of young people being ripped off by degrees that did nothing to increase their employability or earnings potential. so we are stopping universities from enrolling students on courses that do nothing for their life chances. under us, no more rip—off degrees. applause and if you want to know how much i value apprenticeships, look at the fact that in gillian we have our first ever apprentice to be education secretary.

today, i want to build on these conservative achievements and take a long—term decision to address the problems with our 16—19 education system. technical education is not given the respect it deserves. students do not spend enough time in the classroom. a quarter of our children leave education without the basic literacy and numeracy they need to fulfil their potential. and our students study to narrow a range of subjects. today i am changing all of subjects. today i am changing all of that, pulling one of the biggest levers we have to change the direction of our country. we will introduce the new rigorous, knowledge rich, advanced british standard, which will bring together a—levels and t levels into a new single qualification for our school

leavers. first, this will finally deliver on the promise of parity of esteem between academic and technical education. because all students will sit the advanced british standard. second, we will raise the floor, ensuring that our children leave school literate and innumerate. with the advanced british standard, all students will study some form of maths and english to 18, with extra help for those who struggle most. in our country, no child should be left behind. applause third, our 16—19 —year—olds spent around a third less time in the classroom than some of our competitors. we must change this. with advanced british standard,

students will spend at least 195 hours more with the teacher. and forth, a—level students generally only do three subjects, compared to the seven studied by other economic competitors. the advanced british standard will change that, too, with students now typically studying five subjects. and thanks to the extra teaching time we are introducing, the greater breadth will not come at the greater breadth will not come at the expense of depth, which is such a strength of our system. our new plan will require more teachers in the coming years, so i can announce today that in order to attract and retain more teachers, those who teach key subjects in schools, and for the first time in a further education colleges, too, will receive special bonuses of up to £30,000 tax—free over the first five years of their career. 0ur teachers...

applause teachers. . . applaus = ., . , ., teachers... applaus: , .,., ., applause our teachers do one of the most valuable — applause our teachers do one of the most valuable jobs _ applause our teachers do one of the most valuable jobs in _ applause our teachers do one of the most valuable jobs in our _ applause our teachers do one of the most valuable jobs in our society, - most valuable jobs in our society, and we should reward them for that. i'm conference, i can tell you, my main priority on spending reviews will be education. why? because it's the closest thing we have to wait silver bullet. it is the best economic policy, the best of social policy, the best moral policy, the best way to spread opportunity and to create a more prosperous society. it is notjust my way,, conference, it is the conservative way. applause i know times have been tough. we

have all had to deal