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  • 2 years ago
Risings costs led the Prime Minister to announce changes to infrastructure projects at the Conservative Party conference

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00:00 Upgrade the A1, the A2, the A5, the M6.
00:04 Applause at the Conservative Party conference.
00:07 We'll connect.
00:08 But this isn't the crowd for Prime Minister.
00:11 Needs to please.
00:13 It's the public.
00:13 There is more.
00:15 In Kent, if there was to be an election today,
00:18 this is what the polls predict.
00:20 This is based on the current constituencies.
00:23 At the next election, some boundaries will change.
00:26 But it does look like the stage is set for Labour to win
00:30 a number of seats.
00:31 And one of those is Gravesham.
00:33 You can only vote for Labour.
00:35 They're the only serious contenders.
00:37 I'd vote for any of them, to be honest.
00:38 I think they've pulled themselves up a bit now.
00:42 So, yeah, I'd like to see Conservatives going locally.
00:46 Always voted Labour.
00:48 Rishi Sunak will hope his speech today
00:50 will win back some public support.
00:54 He set out a lot on infrastructure, HS2 to be scrapped,
00:58 and money reinvested.
01:01 Now, the decision I've made and the stance I'm taking
01:04 will be attacked.
01:06 They will say that halting it signals a lack of ambition.
01:10 There will be people I respect, people in our own party,
01:12 who will oppose it.
01:14 But there is nothing ambitious about simply pouring
01:18 more and more money into the wrong project.
01:21 There is nothing long-term about ignoring
01:23 your real infrastructure needs so that you can spend
01:26 an ever-larger amount on one grand project.
01:29 Now, the site behind me used to be a golf course.
01:32 It was, so for around 20 years.
01:34 But it closed last year because of uncertainty
01:37 over the Lower Thames crossing.
01:39 That road will come straight through the former golf course.
01:43 The prime minister says the facts have changed on HS2.
01:47 But what about the Lower Thames crossing?
01:50 So the facts certainly have changed.
01:52 What we have is a Conservative government
01:55 that cannot deliver on pretty much anything.
01:59 Under a Labour government, we really
02:01 need to understand the benefits, the costs,
02:04 and all of that sort of stuff of the Lower Thames crossing.
02:07 What we have seen so far is a lot of money
02:09 spent without any actual improvements.
02:12 There's currently a development consent order.
02:14 And the Department for Transport didn't want to comment today.
02:18 But they signalled us back to their statement from March,
02:21 where they announced a two-year delay to the project
02:25 and the need to balance budgets with rising inflation
02:28 at the time.
02:29 The date of the next general election is still unknown.
02:33 But future Conservative policy is now coming thick and fast.
02:38 Gabriel Morris for Cain TV in Gravesham.
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